Hartford — A bill to increase the minimum hourly wage from $8.25 to $8.70 on July 1, 2014, and then to $9 on July 1, 2015, passed by a 89-53 vote in the House late Wednesday night.

The Senate voted 21-15 last week in favor of the bill, which would raise the minimum wage for the first time in four years. The bill now moves to the governor, who is expected to sign it.

“When we are done, the minimum wage workers earn a bit more, nobody is wealthy. Businesses manage to adjust if they can,” bill proponent state Rep. Peter Tercyak, D-New Britain, said. “Business is hard. I understand we are asking them to do a bit more.”

The minimum wage debate was one of economic studies. Tercyak said putting more money in the pockets of the working poor would stimulate the economy, while many Republicans said that increasing the minimum wage would unfairly burden businesses and result in job losses.

In the Senate, Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, was the main proponent of the bill.

Tercyak said more than 100,000 Connecticut workers — about 10 percent of all workers — earn the minimum wage. And about 80 percent of minimum wage earners are over age 20, he said.

Providing these individuals with an extra $936 next year would mean every single penny would go to the local economy, not stocks or exotic financial institutions.

“All of this money that will be at the bottom of the economy with our poorest workers (and) will eventually work its way to the top, but in the meantime, many will have the chance to earn that money and spend it again and keep the economy going,” Tercyak said.

House Minority Leader Larry Cafero, R-Norwalk, had supported increasing the minimum wage during good economic times but recently said that now it was not the time for an increase.

Small businesses are hurting, Cafero said. Raising the minimum wage could have ripple effects, he said: A small business might have to increase two employees’ minimum wage, then another couple of employees who are making $10 an hour would ask for raises, and so on.

Eventually the employer might have to go back to one or two of the minimum wage earners and let them go because of the increase in expenses, Cafero said.

But Tercyak said the move was long overdue. Other states are doing the same, and President Barack Obama has proposed raising the national minimum wage to $9 an hour, he said.

“It is time for us to raise the minimum wage and help people catch up, help our entire economy do a little bit better,” Tercyak said.

j.somers@theday.com

How they voted

YESState Reps. Timothy Bowles, D-Preston; Ernest Hewett, D-New London; Edward Jutila, D-East Lyme; Edward Moukawsher, D-Groton; Emmett Riley, D-Norwich; Brian Sear, D-Canterbury; Elissa Wright, D-Groton; Kevin Ryan, D-Oakdale; Betsy Ritter, D-Waterford.State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague; Andrea Stillman, D-Waterford; Andrew Maynard, D-Stonington.

NOState Sen. Art Linares, R-Westbrook.

AbsentState Rep. Diana Urban, D-North Stonington.