Sunday marked the longest period in U.S. history without an increase in the federal minimum wage. The last time Congress passed an increase was more than 12 years ago–in May 2007. That’s when legislation was passed to increase the minimum wage to $7.25 per hour. (This took effect two years later, in July 2009.)
Since the minimum wage was first established in 1938, Congress has never let it remain unchanged for so long. By allowing the minimum wage to languish, Congress is essentially decreasing take-home wages for working families across the country. When the minimum wage remains unchanged for any length of time, inflation erodes its buying power.
Click here to share the chart, below, which shows that over the last decade, as the minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour, its purchasing power has declined by 17 percent. That translates to a loss of more than $3,000 in annual earnings for a full-time, year-round minimum wage worker.
When the minimum wage was last raised to $7.25 in the summer of 2009, it had a purchasing power equivalent to $8.70 in today’s dollars. Since its historical peak in February 1968, the federal minimum wage has lost 31 percent in purchasing power—meaning full-time, year-round minimum wage workers today earn $6,800 less a year than what their counterparts earned five decades ago.
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