Washington ? Omagine what it would be like to work without a pay raise for nearly 10 years.

That’s been the plight of some workers who for almost the past decade have been earning the federal minimum wage. Their last pay increase – to $5.15 an hour – came in 1997.

There could be some relief in sight. When the Democrat-controlled 110th Congress convenes in early January, a top priority is boosting the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour. The increase is likely to be phased in, perhaps over 26 months.

Alice Laguerre is among the millions of workers now earning less than $7.25 an hour.

She makes $6.55 an hour driving cars headed for the auction blocks in Orlando, Fla., and says a boost in the federal minimum wage would help her build a nest egg for emergencies.

“I would be able to save more,” says Laguerre, a part-time worker. “I’ve always been thrifty with money. When I was young, I’d take a nickel and stretch it five ways.”

On the other side of the minimum wage debate is employer Wayne Reaves, president of Manna Enterprises Inc., in Anniston, Ala., who says he may boost menu prices and cut workers’ hours at his fast-food restaurants, which serve hamburgers, fried chicken, biscuits and gravy and other fare, if the federal wage is lifted.

The average hourly rate for his workers is about $6.39. All of his workers are paid above the current $5.15 minimum, he says. The lowest hourly rate is about $5.50, while a recently hired biscuit maker fetched $8 an hour.

“The market is working. My position is let market forces drive wages. But it isn’t going to happen because this is a political issue now,” Reaves laments. “This will have a negative impact on the people it is supposed to help.”

The federal minimum wage is like a national wage floor, though some people can be paid less under certain circumstances. States can set minimum wages above the federal level; more than two dozen states plus the District of Columbia do.

The last time the federal minimum wage went up was in 1997. That’s the longest stretch without an increase since it was established in 1938. Inflation has eroded the minimum wage’s buying power to the lowest level in about 50 years.

Organized labor and other supporters of boosting the minimum wage contend it will help the working poor.

Business groups and other opponents counter that it could lead to higher prices for goods and services or force companies, especially smaller ones, to pink-slip some entry-level, low-skilled workers or hire fewer such workers. Companies’ profits also could be crimped.