On May 1, 1956, the federal minimum wage was raised to $1.00/hour. That’s right, $1.00 an hour, which goes to show you not only how low that the minimum wage was, but also that quite obviously the value of a dollar was appreciably higher back then as compared to what it is today. That is to say, smartasset.com calculates that the buying power of $1.00 of 1956 would be equivalent to $11.85/hour in 2025. Yet, the federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009, and remains stuck at $7.25/hour, despite the fact that the United States, in whole, is not only a much richer country than it was back then, but that this wage has not kept up with inflation, in addition to the fact that the wealth disparity between those that are very rich as contrasted to those that are not, has arguably never been higher, than it is, presently.
While each State has the right to raise their minimum wage to take into account inflation, fairness, and other considerations, and therefore are permitted to legislate a higher minimum wage for those that are employed in their respective States, we do so find, that twenty-six States do not have a minimum wage of at least $11.85/hour and that twelve of those States, have kept their minimum wage at the same level as the federal minimum wage, which is exceedingly low.
It would be one thing if a minimum wage were equivalent to a living wage, but it isn’t that at all. The minimum wage really represents a wage that will put a minimal amount of money into the employee’s pocket, but certainly not enough to make a living on, which is why so many people that make a minimum wage, are the very same, that will take on a second job, because their first job does not provide them with enough income or hours of employment to live on.
Look, it has to be said, that all those who are not only willing to work, but are actually working, should be provided with a wage that they can reasonably live on, especially in consideration that this is the richest nation in aggregate in the history of the world. Indeed, suppose America believes that those so employed need not earn a living wage, or even have the minimum wage indexed to inflation, as Social Security is. In that case, it need not change a thing. Still, the result that this country will get will be the result that we currently see, which is a sizeable dissatisfied section of the country, and a continuation of the rich getting richer, at the expense of those who are poor and exploited.
This signifies that the representatives of this nation need to do their job, which is to do right by the population of this country, and to thereby see that the minimum wage is adjusted to a much higher level that will do something constructive about the poverty and lack that so many working Americans suffer from, and it this nation will not do this, it is to its own lasting disgrace as the so-called leader of the virtues of capitalism, supposedly lifting all boats.