It's been four years since the official start of the recovery. Most states still have yet to reach their pre-recession employment levels, and though the pace of hiring has picked up considerably, high unemployment continues to haunt much of the country.

Put another way, we are still only one-fifth of the way out of the jobs hole left by the Great Recession, and there are still more than three job-seekers for every opening.

Despite all of that, the arguments against raising the minimum wage, at a time when the economy remains very much in recovery mode, nonetheless strike me as wrong, miserly and even immoral.