For the first time in a decade some of the lowest paid workers in America are getting a raise. 

The minimum wage is going up on Tuesday, and they'll start making $5.85 an hour - an increase of 70 cents.

But the increase may not add up for everyone.

For more than 25 years Robbie Keener stayed home and raised her six kids.

Two years ago she decided to work outside the home and became a home health care provider making minimum wage. She takes care of one patient five days a week.

“I go in cleanup and cook and assist him with his bath if he needs it,” Keener said.

Come next week Keener should be getting a raise now that the federal minimum wage is expecetd to increase after staying stagnate for a decade.

“It’s been time,” she said. “It’s been time across the board.”

The increase will take place over a two-year period. The current wage of $5.15 an hour will jump to $5.85 next week.

Next year it rises to $6.55 an hour, and by 2009 the minimum wage will hit $7.25 an hour.

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Robbie Keener is a home health care provider who makes minimum wage.

Congressman Al Green said, for the nation, the raise is a long time coming.

“On July 24^th we will have overcome a decade of stagnation; a decade of working people not having a pay increase while the cost of living has increased,” he said.

But there’s a flip side to this pay hike: To compensate for the wage increase, some companies may reduce the number of hours minimum wage earners work.

Keener fears it will happen to her.

“If my company is told raise the minium wage, they are going to cut my hours,” Keener said.

But at this point she’s taking the raise, hoping in the long run there’s more to come.