In his State of the Union address earlier this year, President Obama called for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour by 2015, with automatic adjustments upward to reflect increasing costs of living going forward. But with the current level of $7.25 an hour, the increase would amount to an almost 25% jump in the costs that minimum-wage employers have to pay, raising concerns about potential impacts on businesses and on employment among lower-paid workers. Although proponents argue that boosting the minimum wage stimulates overall economic growth by putting more money in the hands of workers, opponents respond that minimum-wage increases result in reduced hours for workers because of the cost pressures they put on employers.