The last time federal lawmakers mandated an increase to the nation’s minimum wage, President George W. Bush was in office, Apple released the first iPhone, and Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable” was the best performing single of the year.
The measure, signed into law in 2007, increased the country’s hourly wage floor for most workers from $5.15 to $7.25 in three stages over the following two years. But thanks to inflation, the current federal minimum wage has the purchasing power of $5.13 compared to 2009, meaning that the real federal minimum wage has fallen below where it was 14 years ago.
This wage erosion has been going on in fits and starts since 1968, when the real federal minimum wage reached its purchasing power apex. Back then, the federal hourly wage floor was $1.60, or about $14 in current dollars — nearly double the current federal minimum wage and almost triple its purchasing power. Indeed, baby boomers were paid much better at their first burger-flipping jobs than any generation since. (Union jobs were also more prevalent in the ‘60s. But these are the American jobs with zero union members last year.)
Considering how slowly Congress moves to raise wages for the country’s lowest-paid workers, cities, states, and municipalities have increasingly taken it upon themselves to do what the federal government cannot or will not do.
Twenty-four states have increased their minimum wages by legislation or ballot measure since 2016, according to the Economic Policy Institute....
When a company promises to save the planet by 2050, it sounds reassuring. But what if that promise comes with no real plan, no credible evidence, and no accountability? A sweeping new study reveal...