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Federal Minimum Wage Essay

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Federal Minimum Wage In 1938, the federal minimum wage was established by Congress under the Fair Labor Standards Act, initially set at $0.25 an hour. President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed it as part of the New Deal to protect workers during the Great Depression. An increase in the federal minimum wage has been an ongoing subject of controversy in the US, because of the perceived gap between the actual minimum wage and the need for a true “living wage.” Congress has kept the federal minimum wage the same since 2009 when it went from $6.55 to $7.25. It has been nearly 14 years since the last increase in the federal minimum wage. To begin with, raising the minimum wage to match inflation and productivity would benefit the economy by increasing consumer activity and stimulating job growth while lowering the federal deficit. A journalist summarizes, “The federal …show more content…

. . The current value of the minimum wage in real dollars is at its lowest level since February 1956, when the lowest U.S. wage was 75 cents — the equivalent of $7.19 in June 2022 dollars” (Cerullo). The increase in the federal minimum wage and adjusting the price to compare with inflation would ensure that low-wage workers could adopt a standard of living that is equivalent to the current economy. The federal minimum wage should also be increased as it will allow minimum wage workers to afford basic living expenses. Currently, the minimum wage is not enough for people to afford housing and other necessities. Statistics show, “In 2022, a full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $25.82 on average to afford a modest, two-bedroom rental home in the U.S. This… is $18.57 higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 . . . A full-time worker needs to earn an hourly wage of $21.25 on average in order to afford a modest one-bedroom rental home in the U.S.” (National Low Income Housing Coalition). Another study also found a $1.75

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