Washington, Oct 23: Former Vice President Joe Biden says he would push for a USD 15-per-hour minimum wage and rejects the idea that it would hurt small businesses. Biden said at Thursday's debate: “There is no evidence that when you raise the minimum wage, businesses go out of business.”

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President Donald Trump argued that the minimum wage should be left as an issue for the states to determine. US Presidential Debate 2020 Live Streaming.

He says, “How are you helping your small businesses when you're forcing wages? What's going to happen, and what's been proven to happen, is when you do that, these small businesses fire many of their employees.”

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The two candidates were asked about where they stand on raising the federal minimum wage as part of their final debate Thursday night.

The minimum wage is now USD 7.25 an hour.

Proponents of increasing it say the minimum wage has not kept up with inflation, making it harder for workers to make ends meet.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)