•Press Release Minimum Wage
Washington, DC — There is one thing that has remained inflation-free for 15 years. Since July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage has not budged from $7.25. That is the most stagnant federal minimum wage since its inception in 1938.
As Sylvia Allegretto’s analysis shows, today’s minimum wage is worth 29 percent less than when it was last increased. Today’s minimum wage workers make nearly 40 percent less than their 1968 counterparts did when the minimum was at its most generous.
“It is shameful that the US, the wealthiest country in the world, ranks #19 on minimum wages across the world,” writes Allegretto. “Nowhere in the US can a full-time worker meet their basic needs on the federal minimum wage.”
A wage floor that is too low contributes to income, gender, and racial inequality. A minimum wage increase will lift the lowest-wage workers, especially women and workers of color.
Allegretto suggests it is way past time to increase the federal minimum wage which is at a 68-year low. An increase would lock in the wage gains that low-wage workers experienced from 2019–2023, and set the path to significantly higher wages for the lowest-wage earners.
