Source: NBC News

Higher minimum wages go into effect across the country this week, boosting many low-wage workers' paychecks — and the blood pressures of some employers and economists. As the new fiscal year gets under way this week, higher minimum wages are taking hold in many other communities across the United States. San Francisco's minimum wage is rising to $14 an hour, one of the highest rates in the nation, and in San Jose, it'll be $12, a $1.50-an-hour raise. But the increases are controversial, with some economists saying they could cost jobs. A University of Washington study last month reported that Seattle's $15-an-hour minimum wage had led to a 9 percent reduction in hours worked since it went into effect in 2014. But a rival study of Seattle's restaurant industry, conducted by the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California-Berkeley, found no effect on low-wage jobs.