The Federal minimum wage of a pathetically meager $7.25 per hour, unchanged since 2009, desperately needs to be raised to reflect our modern economy. While many states have enacted much higher minimum wage laws – Alaska’s minimum wage is $13 per hour, Arizona’s is $15.15 per hour, California’s is $16.90 per hour, Ohio’s is $11 per hour, and New York’s is $17 per hour – some states keep their minimum wage in line with the severely depressed federal minimum wage or have no state minimum wage law. These states are Alabama, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
In April of 2025, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced
in the Senate, and Rep. Robert Scott (D-Va.) introduced in the House the
Raise the Wage Act which would gradually increase the federal minimum wage
to $17 per hour by 2030 (the wage increasing about $1.50 per year). The act
would also increase the wages of tipped employees to nearly the level of
non-tipped employees and would considerably increase the youth wage and the
subminimum wage.
Senator Sanders had the support of 33 colleagues in the
Senate and Rep. Scott had the backing of 142 Representatives in the House.
According to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), the enactment of the Raise the Wage Act would “impact 22.24 million workers across the country, or 15% of the U.S. wage-earning workforce. The increases would provide an additional $70 billion annually in wages for the country’s lowest-paid workers, with the average affected worker who works year-round receiving an extra $3,200 per year.”
Such a considerable increase in the federal minimum wage
would not only provide much needed additional income to the lowest-wage
workers, who struggle to make ends meet and pay for essentials but would also
enable teenage workers to save for college or other schooling.
EPI also estimates that this wage increase would affect 8.5
million people aged 20 or older, debunking any suggestion that such a wage
increase would largely go to youth workers. EPI estimates that 1.8 million
teenagers would benefit.
A 2021 public opinion poll by Harris found that 83% of Americans think the federal minimum wage should be increased, 74% think a person earning the federal minimum wage and working full-time should be able to afford a 1-bedroom apartment, and 59% of respondents think raising the federal minimum wage would have a positive impact on the economy.
According to a 2021 Pew Research Center poll, when a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour was being floated, 62% of respondents were for it, while 38% were opposed. 87% of Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents supported raising the wage, while 72% of Republicans and Republican-leaners opposed it.
Arguments against raising the federal minimum wage have claimed that doing so destroys jobs and reduces employment among low-skilled workers. The conservative CATO Institute is opposed to minimum wages.
However, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich points to studies that show that moderate, gradual increases in the minimum wage have almost no impact on employment.
During a time in America where the super-wealthy, the multimillionaires and billionaires, are becoming ever wealthier thanks to a booming stock market and rising property values, shouldn’t our country be giving the lowest-wage workers an income increase?
Raising the federal minimum wage is one means of combatting the surge in wealth inequality our country has seen over the past two decades.
A recent Gallup poll on the financial situation of Americans reveals that 62% of respondents are worried they will not have enough money for retirement, and 54% are worried they are unable to maintain the standard of living they enjoy. 35% are worried about being able to pay rent, mortgage, or other housing costs.
The income increase that would come from raising the federal minimum wage would put much more spending money in the pockets of the lowest-wage workers and would recirculate through our economy in the form of purchases for necessities and durable goods, boosting America’s Gross Domestic Product, that is, our larger economy. Plus, boosting the federal minimum wage may cause a rippling effect that raises mid-level wages. All in all, a higher, respectable level for the federal minimum wage would benefit American workers and the American economy to a great extent. Democrats should make raising the federal minimum wage a centerpiece in their 2026 midterm election campaigns.
David Fine
Related articles
Raising the Minimum Wage Would Be an Investment in Growing the Middle Class – the Center for American Progress
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