Unprecedented minimumwage hike would hurt jobs and the economy. The federal minimum wage peaked in 1968 business insider. Is the minimum wage worth less now than 50 years ago. The real dollar minimum wage red squares falls when congress does not raise the minimum wage to keep up with inflation. The data was scraped from the united states department of labors table of minimum wage by state as laws differ a lot from territory to territory, especially relating to whom is protected by minimum wage laws, the following footnotes are located throughout the data in. Such indexation ensures that a workers future benefits reflect the general rise in the standard of. The federal minimum wage has been eroded by decades of. View historical and todays current inflation rates, using the cpi provided by the united states government. Inflation data is updated regularly, so results may differ from other websites.
Since then, the purchasing power of the federal minimum wage has fallen by 10 percent as inflation has slowly eroded its value. The current unemployment rate with a much lower inflationadjusted minimum wage is 7. A fact sheet congressional research service 1 he fair labor standards act flsa of 1938 established the hourly minimum wage rate at 25 cents for covered workers. Dollars nominal real value peaked in 1968 and has fallen by a third since then. According to the paper, in 1968, the minimum wage was about half as high as the median wage at the time 52. A retail store of the gap, which pledged to raise the minimum wage for all its u. For each time the minimum wage was changed, table 1 presents its nominal and real value. We determine the value of a dollar using the consumer price index from december of the previous year. Adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage is worth less than. The real value of the federal minimum wage has declined 24 percent since 1968. Unlike almost all other federal benchmarks, the minimum wage is not updated for inflation. Graph and download economic data for state minimum wage rate for ohio sttminwgoh from 1968 to 2020 about minimum wage, oh, wages, rate, and usa.
Scroll over the chart to see the us federal minimum wage through history, and what it would be worth in todays dollars. The us minimum wage, which started at 25 cents in 1938, has been raised by congress 22 times. Politifact is the minimum wage worth less now than 50. The table of federal minimum wage rates under the fair labor standards act, 1938 2009 is also available in a pdf version.
The rise in the minimum wage seems hopeful, however, due to inflation and the rising cost of living, that amount might not be enough in the future. July 24, 2016 marks seven years since the federal minimum wage was last increased. What you need to know about michigans new minimum wage. What are the annual earnings for a fulltime minimum wage. However, this decline in the buying power of the minimum wage over the past. The buying power of the federal minimum wage hasnt kept up with. Dollars per hour 2016 0101 to 20200101 1968 to 2020 state minimum wage rate for michigan. History of federal minimum wage rates under the fair labor. All those against it argue about losing jobslosing profitsburger flipping instead of saving lives etc. Unprecedented minimumwage hike would hurt jobs and the.
In order to view andor print pdf documents you must have a pdf viewer e. Dollars per hour 2016 0801 to 20190101 jan 1972 to jan 2019. Despite these recent increases in state minimum wages, minimum wages at the federal and most state levels are still below the peak of its real value in 1968. The graph adjusts these wages to 2015 dollars red squares to show the real value of the minimum wage. Minimum wage accounting for inflation inflation calculator this chart shows minimum wage by year and the buying power in todays dollars. A cleaned data set of us state and federal minimum wages from 1968 to 2017 including 2018 equivalency values. This continues the decadeslong decline in its purchasing power. The economic case for raising the minimum wage council of economic advisers. Ellison appeared on cnn tuesday to discuss economic empowerment ahead of the 50th anniversary of martin luther king jr. State minimum wage rate for wisconsin sttminwgwi fred. Graph and download economic data for state minimum wage rate for wisconsin sttminwgwi from 1968 to 2020 about minimum wage, wi, wages, rate, and usa. The federal minimum wage is only about 36 percent of the. There have been two major breaks in minimum wage increases. The debate over raising the federal minimum wage has heated up in the past few years.
Adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage is worth less than 50 years ago. Taking the data for q2 median rents from the us census, and then readjusting all numbers to be in 2016 dollars, our full time minimum wage vs. Assume the minimum wage grows according to an exponential model wt, where t represents the time in years after 1960. Inflationadjusted to 2016 dollars using the pce deflator. The real value of the federal minimum wage in 2016 dollars has decreased by onethird since 1968. Those against raising the wage argue that a higher minimum wage could lead businesses to raise their prices or. Although minimum wage is not nearly what it used to be, america still has a long way to go when it comes to compensating its workers.
State minimum wage rate for ohio sttminwgoh fred st. This chart shows how much higher the federal minimum wage. Heres how much the us minimum wage has changed since the. Californias unprecedented minimum wage increase will hurt. In 2007, after 10 years of inaction on this issue, congress passed a. Politifact hillary clinton says she wants to return. Labor activists argue pay has failed to keep up with the cost of living. Because the federal minimum wage is not indexed for inflation, its purchasing power the number of goods that can be bought with a unit of currency has dropped considerably since its peak in 1968. By the start of 2016, 29 states and more than a dozen u. The national average wage index for 2018 is 52,145. When we compute a persons retirement benefit, we use the national average wage indexing series to index that persons earnings. Minimum wage increases have been fairly steady since 1938.