Investing in a new stimulus package, including federal contracts to build roads and such, might end with employed people being rehired, said James Sherk, a senior policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation.

CNN: Give hope to the long-term jobless

"Companies are going to have to get creative to find ways to compensate their employees, " if such a measure gets through, says James Sherk, a labor policy expert at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington, D.

FORBES: Senate Bites Off Executive Comp

James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation pointed out that in 2011 and 2012 only 2.9 percent of all workers earned the minimum, and that figure included service workers who earned enough in tips to move them above the minimum.

FORBES: The Minimum Wage Typifies Much That Is Wrong With Washington