The federal minimum wage has not increased since $7.25 for 15 years. The price increase extends the longest streak of price increases since the federal minimum wage was adopted in 1938.
However, due to inflation and changes in the cost of living, the federal minimum wage is much less value today than at any time since 1949.
A full-time employee working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year would earn a total of $15,080 a year, before taxes. And that assumes they’ve paid sick days, vacation days, and family days, all of which are benefits that aren’t likely to be offered in minimum wage jobs.
“The minimum wage has fallen so far behind the cost of living that millions of workers are earning wages too low to survive at minimum wage and above,” said Holly Sklar, executive director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a network of businesses that advocates for raising the minimum wage.
As of 2023, there will be 869,000 people in the United States earning the minimum wage, according to BLS Data. That number has nearly halved since the pandemic, when 1.6 million people were earning the minimum wage in 2019. Minimum wage earners are predominantly women, who make up 68% of minimum wage earners.
The federal minimum wage is finally stated in July 2009. At that time, $7.25 was equivalent to $10.58 adjusted for inflation today, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ inflation calculator. Since then, every legislative effort to increase the rate has failed.
According to Sklar, the contentious nature of US politics has prevented the federal government from passing legislation to raise the minimum wage. “You have to have the stars align perfectly when this is a top priority in Congress and the White House, and you have enough support to break through the Senate filibuster.”
Had many tries to raise the federal minimum wage. The most recent was in 2021, when Congress was working to pass a $1.9 trillion stimulus bill to stem the pandemic-era economic downturn. A Democratic-led effort to try to include a provision that would Raise the minimum wage to $15 passed the House. However, in the end failure in the Senate for procedural reasons.
This issue used to be primarily a priority for progressive Democrats, but now gain traction with some Republicans as well. In 2021, a group of Republican senators introduced a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $11 an hour over a four-year period. Critics of the bill have objected to a provision that would tie the wage increase to a requirement that employers verify immigration status of their employees.
While the federal minimum wage is locked in at $7.25, states can raise their minimum wage thresholds. Thirty states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than $7.25 an hour. Washington, DC, has the highest minimum wage in the country at $17.50 an hour. Washington state’s minimum wage is next at $16.28, and California and New York Both have a statewide minimum wage of $16 an hour.
California also has a specific minimum wage law for fast food And health care workers, now guaranteed wages of $20 an hour and up to $25 an hour, respectively.
