It’s been 13 years since the U.S. raised the minimum wage – By Irina Ivanova (Moneywatch) / July 25, 2022
As Americans grapple with the stiffest inflation in 40 years, many workers may ponder another milestone today: It’s been exactly 13 years since the last time the U.S. raised the federal minimum wage.
That’s the longest time the baseline wage has stayed flat since the nation first implemented a minimum wage during the Great Depression.
“Today is a sad anniversary in the United States,” the Patriotic Millionaires, a group in favor of progressive taxes, said in a statement. “Lawmakers have turned their backs on America’s tens of millions of low-wage workers and revealed themselves to be beholden to the short-sighted interests of some of their ultra-rich donors.”
Since 2009, when the federal minimum rose to $7.25 an hour, it’s lost more than one-fourth of its purchasing power. When factoring in inflation, today’s minimum wage hasn’t been worth this little since the 1950s, according to calculation from the Economic Policy Institute.
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