Minimum wage is meant to be a living wage, but falls short by a lot
By Andrew Bloomenthal
Investopedia, Aug 18, 2020
The federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25. It is meant to be a living wage, but this isn't the case in practice. The hourly rate hasn’t kept up with the cost of living since the late 1960s. ...
In 1933, five years before the first minimum wage became law, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt said: “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level. I mean the wages of a decent living." ...
Groups like Small Business Majority, Main Street Alliance and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage support a higher wage, which they believe will inspire employee loyalty and boost workplace morale, which leads to more satisfied customers and an increase in consumer spending. ...
At $7.25, the federal minimum hasn’t kept up with the cost of living in more than half a century. But there is a continuing growing movement among workers, policy analysts, state and city governments—and even some employers—to raise it.
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