By Kyra Lieberman – In Motion Staff Writer
The federal minimum wage has not been increased in more than a decade.
The $7.25 hourly rate was set in 2009. Due to economic factors, including inflation, that $7.25 has dropped in value by 16%, worth only $6.10 today. In other words, you would need about $8.68 in 2020 to buy what would have cost $7.25 in 2009.
In 1938, the federal minimum wage was instituted and set at 25 cents per hour, but when adjusted for inflation would be valued at over $4.50 today. More examples are illustrated in the graph on this page, which shows how, even as the minimum wage has gone up, it has lost value over the last 40 years.
American businesses have become more profitable over time and the salaries of CEOs have increased by nearly 1,000% in the past four decades. Meanwhile, the average worker’s wage has actually lost value in that time. American productivity has increased slightly in the last 40 years, yet the $3.10 federal minimum wage in 1980 would be worth $10.25 today.
In the United States, we have the largest gap between median wage and minimum wage of all developed nations. According to the BLS, in December 2019 the median hourly wage is more than $28 in all fields, with weekly earnings just shy of $1,000 per week. Working full-time at 40 hours per week, a person making the federal minimum wage would bring in only $290 each week before taxes.
Most other nations have commissions that meet consistently, often each year, to adjust the minimum wage in accordance with inflation, ensuring that the minimum wage does not lose value over time, such as Australia and the UK. Some countries’ economic commissions even meet twice yearly, including in the Netherlands and Costa Rica. Others automatically raise the minimum wage annually, such as France.
These commissions are made up of economists, with some commissions also including union leaders and advocates. In the U.S., the minimum wage is in the hands of politicians.
In 2004, Florida voters overwhelmingly supported an amendment to increase the minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, compared to a $5.15 federal minimum wage at the time. The amendment also declared that the state would assess the minimum wage each year to keep up with inflation. This year, Florida’s minimum wage increased by 10 cents, bringing it up to $8.56 per hour.
A one-bedroom apartment in Daytona Beach is more than $800 per month on average, and a two-bedroom is $1,065. Working 40 hours on Florida’s minimum wage, an employee would barely bring in enough before taxes to cover rent, let alone other living expenses. People should not have to choose between food and rent, let alone when they are working full-time.
A report from the Economic Policy Institute found that increasing the federal minimum wage could actually decrease government spending in the long-term, as people not earning enough must have their income supplemented by government-funded programs. A recent study in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health also indicates that even a slight minimum wage increase is associated with a lower rate of suicide among working adults.
Organizations such as the Fight for $15 movement have organized to get a minimum wage of $15 per hour passed nationally in order to give everyone a fair wage. Florida lawyer John Morgan has been fighting to get a $15 minimum wage passed in the state of Florida. On Nov. 3, 2020, Amendment 2 on the ballot will ask whether Floridians support a statewide minimum wage increase to $15 by Sept. 2026.
In the country with the second-highest GDP in the world, the workers who build fortunes should not be starving and poor. Working people should be paid fairly and not trying just to earn back the value they lost to inflation, but to feel that their lives are valued with a fair, living wage.