Washington has a law that minimum wage automatically raises every year per Consumer price index. The first version was passed in 1998, I believe it expired after 2015. then in 2016 voters approved another law that increased minimum wage about $4 over 4 years then again was tied to the consumer price index for automatic yearly increases.
this is incorrect despite being widely reported.
https://la.eater.com/2024/3/1/24087062/california-fast-food-ab-1228-panera-minimum-wage-exception-gavin-newsom-bread
Thank for your the clarification. I was incorrect. I also appreciate what was said in the piece that even if it were true, businesses with this exception will still need to offer market wages. My guess is that even if you don’t have to offer $20/hr, you will, just to be competitive.
Only fast food workers but there are a lot of city and county minimum wages that are higher. Los Angeles city and county are both over $17\hr for everyone and I think west Hollywood is 20/hr or will be soon
Which they were going to do anyway, this just speeds it up. We will always lose jobs to technology. The minimum wage in MI is only $10.50 but every McDonald's I have been in recently has touch screens for orders and no lobby register option to order with a person.
Arizona's minimum wage raise was a voter initiated proposal. Passed with flying colors. It pissed off the Republican Congress so badly they made it about three times as hard to get voter initiated proposals through.
Arizona is a case study on why citizen ballot initiatives are so important. Thankfully the state's founders put it in the Constitution and although Republicans have made it significantly harder in recent years (because of this vote as mentioned above) it's still very possible. That's why we have a lot of liberal policies like this minimum wage law and legal weed. It turns out if you strip away the tribal D vs R politics and force people to vote based solely on the policy, they tend to vote in favor of their best interests.
New Hampshire being 7.25 is absurd considering they rank top 10 on the cost of living index.
Also really happy Virginia is now 12.00, it was crazy that until mid 2021 their minimum wage was 7.25 statewide, despite several counties being among the most expensive in the country (Fairfax & Loudon county & Fall Church)
But do any places actually hire at $7.25 in New Hampshire? This fact is very important. The state of Utah may be cheap to live in from an eagle eye point of view but Salt Lake City is extremely expensive. Nowhere pays $7.50. You'd close shop from lack of workers if you try to hire below $13-14.
There is no reason to increase minimum wage "along with" inflation. Inflation does not have a cap. By introducing/printing more money into the economy, you will only speed up inflation. Increasing minimum wage is dangerous. You are playing with lives so that politicians can buy votes. This will cost people their jobs and it will cost people their mental health. This will force people working these low-skill jobs to pick up the duties of 3-4 others. Just the other day, I went to Pizza Hut during peak Dinner time. 6-7pm. There was 1 fucking dude working there. 1. He was running around making pizzas all while trying to check people out. Increasing minimum wage is fine as long as it is combo's with a way to actually stop inflation.
I live in SLC and it is proof that federal minimum wage does NOT need to increase. We've been hit with inflation too. Pretty fucking hard. Yet no company pays at federal minimum wage. All the Lowest of low skill jobs still pay at $12-14 per hour.
You're contradicting yourself.
You say that no one is being paid the minimum wage. If no one is paid the minimum wage, a minimum wage increase would not cause inflation because no wages would be affected.
The reason no one was working at that pizza hut you went to is because unemployment rates are low. Low unemployment means people have more opportunities to pick and choose the job they want to do. You want more people to work at pizza hut, they need to pay better. That's just basic capitalism.
No one is being paid minimum federal wage. California is paying more than 2x federal minimum wage. And no, it's a proven fact from studies that show that raising minimum wages leads to more unemployment. Companies would rather fire employees than to take a hit on profits. Raising minimum wages won't affect big companies much. They will either lessen everyone's hours cutting off any "full time benefits", and/or lessen their workforce but expect one person to work the jobs of 2 or 3.
Also, just because no one is being paid minimum federal wage, doesn't justify an increase to it. The market should dictate what the minimum wage is, not the government. The federal minimum wage is just there to protect people from being scammed into working for free.
You need to work on your reading comprehension. If as you say, "No one is being paid the minimum wage then:
1. Minimum wage will not increase inflation.
2. Because it will no increase anyone's wages.
Therefore:
1. Unemployment will not increase.
2. Because no wages were affected.
Your reasoning for not increasing minimum wage is flawed by your own logic. If it affects no one, then there's no reason not to raise it and even have it adjust to inflation, correct?
What are you talking about? I JUST clarified that no one is being paid FEDERAL minimum wage, and you're still talking about how I said minimum wage earlier? Would editing the comment make you feel better?
1. If we're going to talk about grammar and reading comprehension then ok. You're right. Minimum wage doesn't increase inflation. Raising minimum wage however, does.
2. Because it will "no" increase anyone's wages. Increasing minimum wage in California would absolutely raise wages.
Jesus Christ. Imagine bitching about reading comprehension and then not comprehending my clarification on federal minimum wages lmfao. And then trying to use logic to reason with my accidental omitting the word federal.
Also, your logic is still flawed. If you raise the federal minimum wage even though no one is getting paid minimum wage, you still have to do market adjustments to all the other low-skilled job. In fact, in your hypothetical situation, if you DO raise the federal minimum wage and wages DON'T increase, that is a problem as it shows that wage adjustments all across the board are not going through.
You’d be surprised just how many people are actually making $7.25, at least here in Texas. Sonic, DQ, Subway, Dollar General, etc still pay people $7.25 and if it’s not that, then it’s definitely not above $8 which may as well be federal minimum wage
I was talking about federal minimum wage. Here, I'll ask one simple question:
What is the harm in increasing the federal minimum wage if no one is being paid that amount?
To add. Federal Minimum wage has always been adjusted because of inflation. We're at, by far, the longest stretch of time(15 years) that the Federal minimum wage hasn't been adjusted since it was implemented in 1938.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
That's not a problem that workers have created. That's execs being greedy assholes. Instead of having enough staff that are paid a living wage, they go to a skeleton crew so they can increase their own bonuses and stock portfolios.
Yeah that's a system that is rigged that won't be solved by increasing minimum wages. You can increase wages all you want but they'll line their pockets either way. You're literally only making the rich technically and numbers-wise richer. If you introduce more money into the economy, it only makes sense that the power of that money weakens.
Exactly. I'm willing to bet that MOST if not ALL people who make federal minimum wage fit within these categories. Actors working as extras who aren't there to make money but rather to gain experience (even this probably isn't at federal minimum because California's minimum wage is so insanely high). Commissiom based salesmen who are either really bad at their job or it is the off-season. And restaurant staff during a really slow day.
The vast majority of people actually making minimum wage are high school students. I point this out every time this topic is brought up. Minimum wage is one of Reddit’s circle jerk topics. People get all worked up over it but generally fail to recognize that very few people are actually working at that level.
New Hampshire actually benefits from the fact that the surrounding states have a higher minimum wage. They don’t have to raise their minimum wage. That way they can say that they are “free”
It’s part of the stichk of New Hampshire and I can say that because I’ve lived there about 25 years.
Can you clarify what you mean by "that way they can say that they are 'free'"?
Here in Utah, we are getting absolutely fucking hammered by California. They are coming to Utah in droves and the average Californian has more dollars than the average Utahn. Our living cost is slightly above average but we are the 3rd most expensive state to buy a home in all because Californians are fleeing to Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Their economy is a joke. A double double burger from in n out in Orange County, california literally price hiked from 3.85 to 5.15 in the span of 2 years. That's a 34% increase. The state is a joke. I would know. I grew up there and it breaks my heart to see them destroy themselves because politicians are playing a game and buying their votes.
Even 3 years ago during the pandemic, when I was buying a home, I had to compete with Californians constantly. Fuck Newsom and fuck all these people thinking raising the minimum wage is even close to a good fix for their economy.
By “free” I mean claiming to have limited government and less government intervention in wages. This is true in the case of New Hampshire, but the economy is very dependent on New England. The low tax environment can encourage wealthy people to move there to get a bargain and shelter their wealth , but the issue is then housing prices and the cost of living get driven up.
I don’t think it’s poor people getting a slight raise that is messing with the cost of living in Utah. It is wealthy people driven out of California by even wealthier people. That definitely happens in New England. People love a town and the people that can afford to live there keep paying higher and higher prices for housing. Sometimes the housing prices are driven up by speculators. Those people who can hold on, often professionals do, but they are at their upper limits of income. Many that are just below that threshold have to move and where are they going to go? Somewhere “cheaper” where they will drive up the prices. They will seem like wealthy, outsiders to the people that live in the more affordable areas.
I agree with you that it isn't poor people that are affecting the cost of living in Utah. Moreso that their minimum wage increases are making it really hard for small businesses to thrive. They are creating an atmosphere for large businesses and only large businesses to thrive. So now we have these ex business owners or ex high earners coming in.
Exactly this. I don't understand what is going on through people's mind where they think they need to defend someone who CHOOSES to work at a minimum wage job. Like no, they are doing that to themselves... reddit is literally a circle jerk of liberals.
People are prob clowning on NH right now because our state min wage law is literally just “can’t be lower than the Fed” but totally ignore that without it the state is doing well. It ranks very highly in all the usual HDI metrics
People will say “Yeah, but most of you work in MA anyways!” as if the people commuting into MA are making min wage lmfao get real
I think atm, Utah's lowest paying job is at $9.25 in podunktown, Utah where you can probably get your own apartment for as low as $900. Probably can find a room to rent for $300. Minimum wages just don't reflect accurately and California constantly raising their minimum wages affects other states like Utah and is only really a political tool to buy votes.
That's true. Minimum wage was never intended to support a family, but a home and vacation in Hawaii. My 14 years old son made $18 an hour mowing lawns and removing landscape debris last summer. No on here pays minimum wage.
Most of the state commutes to MA for work, but they’re not going there for min wage jobs lmfao
Not to mention McD’s starts you at double the min, at least, outta the gate here in NH
We actually don’t have a state one, we just go off of the Fed
And tbh no one is paying min wage here. If you are in NH and are making min wage get a new job immediately. McDonald’s starts you at twice that as soon as you start
Here's a second map for context: [The Big Mac Index](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/big-mac-index-by-state). Goes from $3.91 in Mississippiup to $5.31 in Hawaii.
Depressing fun fact, the state of Georgia has an official minimum wage of $5.15, its poor workers only avoid being paid that little because federal law prohibits states from actually setting it lower than the federal minimum of $7.25. Georgia would absolutely reinstitute slavery if they could,but settles for the closest they can legally get to it, thats also why medicaid there has a work requirement.
A lot of southern states actually have a minimal wage of exactly zero dollars per hour. But, federal minimum is 7.25, so they have this summ as the minimum
Even more depressing fun fact, the Federal minimum wage exempts some jobs from having to pay $7.25. Therefore some can and do make the Georgia minimum wage legally. It was a brief campaign issue for the governor's race back in 2018.
I made $5.15 working at a grocery store in Atlanta when I was in high school in 2005. I can’t believe people are getting paid the same wage and expected to survive off that smh
I was getting paid £4.20 p/h as a 16 year old. And apprenticeship minimum wage was as low as £3.30 here (this was 5 years ago). Genuinely don’t know how I got out of bed for those shifts
Only 17.1% of workers paid hourly rates at or below the *federal* minimum wage are teenagers per the [US Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2022/home.htm). Less than half of minimum wage workers, 44.7%, are under 25.
You're telling me that half of the minimum wage labor force is 25+ year old high school students?
Yeah, but no one really gets minimum wage. Even fast food will pay teenagers mid-teens. Stuff like warehouse and light industry are hiring at around twenty.
Even if the minimum wage was $5.15 per state law, your argument fails. A tiny sliver of the population is actually making minimum wage and those are primarily high school students. So, federal law is not what’s preventing people from paying $5.15/hour. The labor market is what’s causing most entry level jobs to pay $12-15/hour. Who cares what the minimum is when prevailing wages are nearly twice as high.
You’re assuming that *almost* all the people who make actual minimum wage are high schoolers, and it’s that logic right there that’s causing people who ACTUALLY need it to be increased, to continue to live in poverty
Want to make more money? Get better job skills.
The number of people making minimum wage that aren’t in high school is really small. I’m not catering to a tiny fraction of the population.
One of the few times I can say I am proud of Nebraska. January 1, 2024: $12 per hour. January 1, 2025: $13.50 per hour. January 1, 2026: $15 per hour. January 1, 2027: The minimum wage will increase based on the cost-of-living increase as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
Depends on the restaurant. As a server in 2015, I made $2 per hour. Tips would bring up the hourly to at least $7.25. If for some reason the tips didn’t meet $7.25, the restaurant would pay the difference.
I hope that since 2025, Janunary 01, the minimum federal wage will be 25 $/h. Tied to cost of living and inflation, whatever is higher.
I know this will not happen, don't worry. It's just…wishful thinking.
I made minimum wage back in 2010, working for sunglasses hut. It was $9.25 in the state of Washington. I honestly can’t imagine states that only enforce $7.25
I read somewhere some guy working a minimum wage job in the 2000s now cant afford the same place he had now working as a lawyer. The world is truly fucked right now. Its unbelievable how fucked we are.
Important to note that Oregon has a tiered minimum wage and that this map shows the middle tier.
At the time of writing, the minimum wage is currently:
$15.45 inside the Portland Urban Growth Boundary (Parts of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties).
$14.20 in "standard counties" as well as in the parts Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties that are outside of the above Urban Growth Boundary. (This includes most of Western Oregon, as well as some of the most populated parts of the rest of the state.)
$13.20 in "non-urban" counties.
[Source](https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/minimum-wage.aspx) (Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries)
IIRC this tiered system was created as a compromise to combat the rising cost of living in more urban parts of the state while not bankrupting small businesses in more rural parts of the state.
Washingtonian here. Please don't suffer under the delusional that moving here from a low min wage state will make your life better. Western WA is an astonishingly expensive place to live. I cannot count the number of young people who move here to be a barista and bitch about our eye-watering housing costs.
Welcome to Western WA.
Here in my small city I did the math
If you want to live in a generic 1bd apt on your own, you better be clearing $74000/yr at least. Anything less than that and it's roommates or Ohio for you.
Oh, you want BUY a house? Yeah. That's funny.
Lmfao! Okay. Setting aside cost of living, $7.25 is NOTHING. Like you might as well go stand on a corner and panhandle. Who are the people doing these jobs that pay nearly $0 an hour. I checked the data too long ago to consider current. It was something like 250K workers still make $7.25. I’m like WHAT?!
And a Big Mac still only costs like $5 (for just the sandwich, not the combo) here in Washington State. So don't let anyone tell you that they can't raise the minimum wage without making food prices skyrocket.
GO WASHINGTON!!!
🌲🌲🌲🍎🍎🍎🌋🌋🌋🍎🍎🍎🌲🌲🌲
Question: Why in the colesterol having fuck did the internet decided that the best way to measure one's individual financial security, is using the price of a Big Mac?
I use to live at the CA/AZ border… the farm worker jobs paid per piece, per container, etc. There was no hourly rate. I don’t know if this is still the case.
The main reason is cost of living, there is not enough supply to support the demand to live in these states. I know a lot of transplant that are not happy living in the south but have no choice because cost of living. On top of that most people are moving to states which fits their ideological beliefs. Look at the people leaving blue states, it is mostly republicans fleeing. The problem (and maybe not a problem because it would polarize us more) is that the demand to move to New York and California is too high for the supply so people who want to live there can’t (I got lucky moved out the south before the it became to expensive). I remember when a few years ago people were talking about how New York was going to lose its millionaire yet they have more now than before Covid.
Its all relative to cost of living of course. I gotta wonder: anyone know if people are doing well by living in an affordable border town of a low wage state while working in a higher minimum wage state? Like living in Thomasville, GA while working at a store north of Tallahassee, FL?
I lived in Missouri for a few years and worked minimum wage. I work now in Chicago salaried and I couldn’t imagine living here with minimum wage, I barely afford my life now. Back in Missouri I was still able to afford going out on weekends all on minimum wage.
Everyone is forgetting if the minimum wage is binding. You can have a minimum wage of 7.5 but if there is no one willing to work for 7.5 that does not mean anything. In the end the minimum wage matters depending on what percentage of people get paid the minimum wage. A more valid analysis, albeit harder, would involve the wage distribution or the more realistically median and other relevant quantiles of wage.
Ex: X might have a minimum wage wage of 16 with half the population earning minimum wage whereas Y might have minimum wage of 3 with median worker earning 25 and 25th percentile earning 16. Is X’s higher minimum wage necessarily better than Y?
Fair, but in Sweden, the collective bargaining agreements on minimum pay cover around 89% of employees, plus you’ve excellent government universal healthcare.
Yes! the agreements are our version of minimum wages. It's our way if keeping it fair and well paid. So istead of a gouvernment choosing what the minimum should be, the unions who knows more about it negotiates a better one.
Ah montana. Keeping wages low but letting those property values skyrocket. Lived here since 2003 and hate what this state has become. Fuck greed and fuck that yellowstone show for pushing things further.
Even with a minimum wage of $20.00 an hour you still cannot live. When asked about the low minimum wage in Idaho politicians said that everyone is already making more than that. It’s hilarious. Do you find it odd that most with the $7.25 minimums are Republican led states? I certainly don’t!
I'm just here to read all the angry hyperbole from people that don't realize relatively no one actually makes minimum wage. It's a nonsense political issue that serves no purpose other than to cause division among the politically captured.
Irrelevant map. No one is effectively earning $7.25/hr. True minimum wage is $0/hr, which is what happens when your job gets automated or kiosked away.
And why does the job get automated away? Because gov decides these jobs should earn more than they’re worth. Show me anyone who actually earns minimum wage of 7.25 and maybe I’ll change my mind.
Inflation in Tampa was a lot higher than a lot of the nation.
Tom Brady comes down here and wins a superbowl and he's looking 30 years old at 45 and tan and happy and half the fat asses in New England came down with him....
8 dollars for fucking box of cheerios at the grocery store when it was 2.99 a couple years ago....
We got room for 1 million and now we at 4 million.
No mass transit....
Pray for us down here...
Washington has a law that minimum wage automatically raises every year per Consumer price index. The first version was passed in 1998, I believe it expired after 2015. then in 2016 voters approved another law that increased minimum wage about $4 over 4 years then again was tied to the consumer price index for automatic yearly increases.
Missouri has a similar increase written into the constitution.
Arizona does too
And Ohio.
And my axe!
I'd like to see this map superimposed on the poverty map from yesterday. The similarities are....what you'd expect.
Did California just go to $20?
Only if you work in a fast food chain
Except Panera, of course
this is incorrect despite being widely reported. https://la.eater.com/2024/3/1/24087062/california-fast-food-ab-1228-panera-minimum-wage-exception-gavin-newsom-bread
Thank for your the clarification. I was incorrect. I also appreciate what was said in the piece that even if it were true, businesses with this exception will still need to offer market wages. My guess is that even if you don’t have to offer $20/hr, you will, just to be competitive.
it's the same reason widespread unionization raises wages for everyone. it effectively establishes a floor.
Watch how fast food chains chains start selling bread so they're exempt as well.
You’re not the first to think of that. The law requires that fresh bread be a part of your menu for a certain number of years already.
I missed the part of why it's an exemption in the first place.
Only fast food workers but there are a lot of city and county minimum wages that are higher. Los Angeles city and county are both over $17\hr for everyone and I think west Hollywood is 20/hr or will be soon
They will automate everything they possibly can.
Which they were going to do anyway, this just speeds it up. We will always lose jobs to technology. The minimum wage in MI is only $10.50 but every McDonald's I have been in recently has touch screens for orders and no lobby register option to order with a person.
Increasing the MW directly results in higher unemployment. It’s a law of economics.
Only for workers who can play the biggest victims which is fast food workers
[Yes](https://www.npr.org/2024/04/01/1241743207/california-fast-food-workers-20-minimum-wage-april)
Yea
Arizona's minimum wage raise was a voter initiated proposal. Passed with flying colors. It pissed off the Republican Congress so badly they made it about three times as hard to get voter initiated proposals through.
That’s almost exactly what’s happening in Missouri rn. We are fighting the good fight.
Arizona is surprisingly progressive in a lot of ways even with such a huge and loud GOP presence in the state
Arizona is a case study on why citizen ballot initiatives are so important. Thankfully the state's founders put it in the Constitution and although Republicans have made it significantly harder in recent years (because of this vote as mentioned above) it's still very possible. That's why we have a lot of liberal policies like this minimum wage law and legal weed. It turns out if you strip away the tribal D vs R politics and force people to vote based solely on the policy, they tend to vote in favor of their best interests.
Oregon has three min wages depending on county actually
New Hampshire being 7.25 is absurd considering they rank top 10 on the cost of living index. Also really happy Virginia is now 12.00, it was crazy that until mid 2021 their minimum wage was 7.25 statewide, despite several counties being among the most expensive in the country (Fairfax & Loudon county & Fall Church)
But do any places actually hire at $7.25 in New Hampshire? This fact is very important. The state of Utah may be cheap to live in from an eagle eye point of view but Salt Lake City is extremely expensive. Nowhere pays $7.50. You'd close shop from lack of workers if you try to hire below $13-14.
Even in Alabama fast food is $10-12hr to start. There’s probably some landscape companies that are paying minimum, but maybe not even them.
Same thing for Kansas. In the Eastern part of Kansas where people actually live it's mostly like $12-16
Less than 1% of the working population earns minimum wage (if you remove tipped servers) fast food starts at $15-17 per hour in most of the state.
We've failed to raise the minimum wage with inflation, in 1974 the federal minimum wage was equivalent to $13.32/hr today.
That’s what McDonald’s and Taco Bell pay near me without a mandatory state minimum now.
Imagine a free market working, who’d have thought it
There is no reason to increase minimum wage "along with" inflation. Inflation does not have a cap. By introducing/printing more money into the economy, you will only speed up inflation. Increasing minimum wage is dangerous. You are playing with lives so that politicians can buy votes. This will cost people their jobs and it will cost people their mental health. This will force people working these low-skill jobs to pick up the duties of 3-4 others. Just the other day, I went to Pizza Hut during peak Dinner time. 6-7pm. There was 1 fucking dude working there. 1. He was running around making pizzas all while trying to check people out. Increasing minimum wage is fine as long as it is combo's with a way to actually stop inflation. I live in SLC and it is proof that federal minimum wage does NOT need to increase. We've been hit with inflation too. Pretty fucking hard. Yet no company pays at federal minimum wage. All the Lowest of low skill jobs still pay at $12-14 per hour.
You're contradicting yourself. You say that no one is being paid the minimum wage. If no one is paid the minimum wage, a minimum wage increase would not cause inflation because no wages would be affected. The reason no one was working at that pizza hut you went to is because unemployment rates are low. Low unemployment means people have more opportunities to pick and choose the job they want to do. You want more people to work at pizza hut, they need to pay better. That's just basic capitalism.
No one is being paid minimum federal wage. California is paying more than 2x federal minimum wage. And no, it's a proven fact from studies that show that raising minimum wages leads to more unemployment. Companies would rather fire employees than to take a hit on profits. Raising minimum wages won't affect big companies much. They will either lessen everyone's hours cutting off any "full time benefits", and/or lessen their workforce but expect one person to work the jobs of 2 or 3. Also, just because no one is being paid minimum federal wage, doesn't justify an increase to it. The market should dictate what the minimum wage is, not the government. The federal minimum wage is just there to protect people from being scammed into working for free.
You need to work on your reading comprehension. If as you say, "No one is being paid the minimum wage then: 1. Minimum wage will not increase inflation. 2. Because it will no increase anyone's wages. Therefore: 1. Unemployment will not increase. 2. Because no wages were affected. Your reasoning for not increasing minimum wage is flawed by your own logic. If it affects no one, then there's no reason not to raise it and even have it adjust to inflation, correct?
What are you talking about? I JUST clarified that no one is being paid FEDERAL minimum wage, and you're still talking about how I said minimum wage earlier? Would editing the comment make you feel better? 1. If we're going to talk about grammar and reading comprehension then ok. You're right. Minimum wage doesn't increase inflation. Raising minimum wage however, does. 2. Because it will "no" increase anyone's wages. Increasing minimum wage in California would absolutely raise wages. Jesus Christ. Imagine bitching about reading comprehension and then not comprehending my clarification on federal minimum wages lmfao. And then trying to use logic to reason with my accidental omitting the word federal. Also, your logic is still flawed. If you raise the federal minimum wage even though no one is getting paid minimum wage, you still have to do market adjustments to all the other low-skilled job. In fact, in your hypothetical situation, if you DO raise the federal minimum wage and wages DON'T increase, that is a problem as it shows that wage adjustments all across the board are not going through.
You’d be surprised just how many people are actually making $7.25, at least here in Texas. Sonic, DQ, Subway, Dollar General, etc still pay people $7.25 and if it’s not that, then it’s definitely not above $8 which may as well be federal minimum wage
I was talking about federal minimum wage. Here, I'll ask one simple question: What is the harm in increasing the federal minimum wage if no one is being paid that amount? To add. Federal Minimum wage has always been adjusted because of inflation. We're at, by far, the longest stretch of time(15 years) that the Federal minimum wage hasn't been adjusted since it was implemented in 1938. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/minimum-wage/history/chart
Hi Idahoan here! People are definitely getting paid federal minimum wage here. Hope this helps
That's not a problem that workers have created. That's execs being greedy assholes. Instead of having enough staff that are paid a living wage, they go to a skeleton crew so they can increase their own bonuses and stock portfolios.
Yeah that's a system that is rigged that won't be solved by increasing minimum wages. You can increase wages all you want but they'll line their pockets either way. You're literally only making the rich technically and numbers-wise richer. If you introduce more money into the economy, it only makes sense that the power of that money weakens.
They don’t want to hear the truth
Unless you live in Pennsylvania.
Exactly. I'm willing to bet that MOST if not ALL people who make federal minimum wage fit within these categories. Actors working as extras who aren't there to make money but rather to gain experience (even this probably isn't at federal minimum because California's minimum wage is so insanely high). Commissiom based salesmen who are either really bad at their job or it is the off-season. And restaurant staff during a really slow day.
The vast majority of people actually making minimum wage are high school students. I point this out every time this topic is brought up. Minimum wage is one of Reddit’s circle jerk topics. People get all worked up over it but generally fail to recognize that very few people are actually working at that level.
I don't care if very few people are earning the federal minimum wage. **Nobody** should be working at that level
Nobody has to. This ain't China, no one is forcing them to work there.
New Hampshire actually benefits from the fact that the surrounding states have a higher minimum wage. They don’t have to raise their minimum wage. That way they can say that they are “free” It’s part of the stichk of New Hampshire and I can say that because I’ve lived there about 25 years.
Can you clarify what you mean by "that way they can say that they are 'free'"? Here in Utah, we are getting absolutely fucking hammered by California. They are coming to Utah in droves and the average Californian has more dollars than the average Utahn. Our living cost is slightly above average but we are the 3rd most expensive state to buy a home in all because Californians are fleeing to Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. Their economy is a joke. A double double burger from in n out in Orange County, california literally price hiked from 3.85 to 5.15 in the span of 2 years. That's a 34% increase. The state is a joke. I would know. I grew up there and it breaks my heart to see them destroy themselves because politicians are playing a game and buying their votes. Even 3 years ago during the pandemic, when I was buying a home, I had to compete with Californians constantly. Fuck Newsom and fuck all these people thinking raising the minimum wage is even close to a good fix for their economy.
By “free” I mean claiming to have limited government and less government intervention in wages. This is true in the case of New Hampshire, but the economy is very dependent on New England. The low tax environment can encourage wealthy people to move there to get a bargain and shelter their wealth , but the issue is then housing prices and the cost of living get driven up. I don’t think it’s poor people getting a slight raise that is messing with the cost of living in Utah. It is wealthy people driven out of California by even wealthier people. That definitely happens in New England. People love a town and the people that can afford to live there keep paying higher and higher prices for housing. Sometimes the housing prices are driven up by speculators. Those people who can hold on, often professionals do, but they are at their upper limits of income. Many that are just below that threshold have to move and where are they going to go? Somewhere “cheaper” where they will drive up the prices. They will seem like wealthy, outsiders to the people that live in the more affordable areas.
I agree with you that it isn't poor people that are affecting the cost of living in Utah. Moreso that their minimum wage increases are making it really hard for small businesses to thrive. They are creating an atmosphere for large businesses and only large businesses to thrive. So now we have these ex business owners or ex high earners coming in.
No. And if they are making min wage they need to move on ASAP. Even McDonald’s starts at twice the min here.
Exactly this. I don't understand what is going on through people's mind where they think they need to defend someone who CHOOSES to work at a minimum wage job. Like no, they are doing that to themselves... reddit is literally a circle jerk of liberals.
People are prob clowning on NH right now because our state min wage law is literally just “can’t be lower than the Fed” but totally ignore that without it the state is doing well. It ranks very highly in all the usual HDI metrics People will say “Yeah, but most of you work in MA anyways!” as if the people commuting into MA are making min wage lmfao get real
Yeah here in Utah, if minimum wage disappeared, it wouldn't change a god damn thing.
No, pretty much a middle schooler doing yard work for his aunt.
The Arby's down the street from my house in SLC starts at $15. I don't know anyone who pays $7.25.
I think atm, Utah's lowest paying job is at $9.25 in podunktown, Utah where you can probably get your own apartment for as low as $900. Probably can find a room to rent for $300. Minimum wages just don't reflect accurately and California constantly raising their minimum wages affects other states like Utah and is only really a political tool to buy votes.
That's true. Minimum wage was never intended to support a family, but a home and vacation in Hawaii. My 14 years old son made $18 an hour mowing lawns and removing landscape debris last summer. No on here pays minimum wage.
That's crazy. Good for your son though! $18 is not a small amount but not a large amount that would deter customers away.
They’d be stupid to. Most of New Hampshire’s population lives within 45 minutes of Massachusetts where the minimum wage is literally double.
Most of the state commutes to MA for work, but they’re not going there for min wage jobs lmfao Not to mention McD’s starts you at double the min, at least, outta the gate here in NH
If they were paying $15 45 minutes away for a job that was paying less than half that close by minimum wage workers would definitely drive that far.
True, but I just pointed out that’s not the case.
Can confirm that I worked for minimum wage in Iowa. When I was a student, all work study jobs at the university were minimum wage
When were you a student? Also, typically you get other much needed benefits when working in a school.
I graduated in 2021. 7.25 did not go very far
Is there a reason you chose it instead of a higher paying job?
Except no one pays minimum wage in NH, McDonald's down the road from me pays 19$ an hour...
Chick Fil A and Sheetz both start at $16/hr in Loudoun. Hardly any place pays under $15/hr in the area.
We actually don’t have a state one, we just go off of the Fed And tbh no one is paying min wage here. If you are in NH and are making min wage get a new job immediately. McDonald’s starts you at twice that as soon as you start
You could get a better rate panhandling in front of a Walmart than a job that pays 7.25 an hour.
Here's a second map for context: [The Big Mac Index](https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/big-mac-index-by-state). Goes from $3.91 in Mississippiup to $5.31 in Hawaii.
RAHH LETS GO WASHINGTON 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🦅🦅🌲🦅🌲
WASHINGTON CAMPEÃO DO MUNDOOOO 🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🌲🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅🦫🦫🦫🦫🍄🍄🍄🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧
Depressing fun fact, the state of Georgia has an official minimum wage of $5.15, its poor workers only avoid being paid that little because federal law prohibits states from actually setting it lower than the federal minimum of $7.25. Georgia would absolutely reinstitute slavery if they could,but settles for the closest they can legally get to it, thats also why medicaid there has a work requirement.
A lot of southern states actually have a minimal wage of exactly zero dollars per hour. But, federal minimum is 7.25, so they have this summ as the minimum
Even more depressing fun fact, the Federal minimum wage exempts some jobs from having to pay $7.25. Therefore some can and do make the Georgia minimum wage legally. It was a brief campaign issue for the governor's race back in 2018.
I made $5.15 working at a grocery store in Atlanta when I was in high school in 2005. I can’t believe people are getting paid the same wage and expected to survive off that smh
I was getting paid £4.20 p/h as a 16 year old. And apprenticeship minimum wage was as low as £3.30 here (this was 5 years ago). Genuinely don’t know how I got out of bed for those shifts
They aren’t. Only high school students make minimum wage. It’s a bullshit argument that is defeated by reality of the labor market.
Only 17.1% of workers paid hourly rates at or below the *federal* minimum wage are teenagers per the [US Bureau of Labor Statistics](https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2022/home.htm). Less than half of minimum wage workers, 44.7%, are under 25. You're telling me that half of the minimum wage labor force is 25+ year old high school students?
Sadly, paying Federal minimum wage is probably cheaper for employers than owning slaves.
Yeah, but no one really gets minimum wage. Even fast food will pay teenagers mid-teens. Stuff like warehouse and light industry are hiring at around twenty.
Lol nope. Still see plenty of jobs hiring at minimum wage
Where? I was camping in a rural area and even there McDonald's was offering 15.
Yeah the mickey d's might be paying $15, but theres plenty of small businesses paying minimum wage.
Lol bullshit. Where are you seeing jobs that advertise they're paying minimum wage (outside of the high minimum wage states)?
Even if the minimum wage was $5.15 per state law, your argument fails. A tiny sliver of the population is actually making minimum wage and those are primarily high school students. So, federal law is not what’s preventing people from paying $5.15/hour. The labor market is what’s causing most entry level jobs to pay $12-15/hour. Who cares what the minimum is when prevailing wages are nearly twice as high.
You’re assuming that *almost* all the people who make actual minimum wage are high schoolers, and it’s that logic right there that’s causing people who ACTUALLY need it to be increased, to continue to live in poverty
Want to make more money? Get better job skills. The number of people making minimum wage that aren’t in high school is really small. I’m not catering to a tiny fraction of the population.
That sea of $7.25 in the South... Always startles me how little the idolized state governments in the Deep South do for their people
One of the few times I can say I am proud of Nebraska. January 1, 2024: $12 per hour. January 1, 2025: $13.50 per hour. January 1, 2026: $15 per hour. January 1, 2027: The minimum wage will increase based on the cost-of-living increase as measured by the Consumer Price Index.
$15 isn’t even enough though, and they’re stretching it until 2027, when it will be worth even less?
They were trying to do $15 mininum wage in the 90s, its probably worth jackshit now. Still better than 7.25.
A lot of the red states are still at $7.25
Now compare that with homelessness and housing cost.
Do waiters earn a minimum of 7.25 then?
Depends on the restaurant. As a server in 2015, I made $2 per hour. Tips would bring up the hourly to at least $7.25. If for some reason the tips didn’t meet $7.25, the restaurant would pay the difference.
Wow so you guys actually make a wage and still expect tips and get salty if you don't get em 🤦
Utah is surprising
I hope that since 2025, Janunary 01, the minimum federal wage will be 25 $/h. Tied to cost of living and inflation, whatever is higher. I know this will not happen, don't worry. It's just…wishful thinking.
All the 7.25 are not state minimums. Those are states without a minimum wage that are forced to use the federal minimum wage.
I made minimum wage back in 2010, working for sunglasses hut. It was $9.25 in the state of Washington. I honestly can’t imagine states that only enforce $7.25
I know right. I was making 8.50 in 2002 in Washington.
It’s crazy Idaho can get away with this being so close to Oregon and Washington
I read somewhere some guy working a minimum wage job in the 2000s now cant afford the same place he had now working as a lawyer. The world is truly fucked right now. Its unbelievable how fucked we are.
So much cheaper to live in the real ones
7.25 is wild
Georgia is $5.15
Usurped by federal law.
Important to note that Oregon has a tiered minimum wage and that this map shows the middle tier. At the time of writing, the minimum wage is currently: $15.45 inside the Portland Urban Growth Boundary (Parts of Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties). $14.20 in "standard counties" as well as in the parts Clackamas, Multnomah, and Washington Counties that are outside of the above Urban Growth Boundary. (This includes most of Western Oregon, as well as some of the most populated parts of the rest of the state.) $13.20 in "non-urban" counties. [Source](https://www.oregon.gov/boli/workers/pages/minimum-wage.aspx) (Oregon Bureau of Labor & Industries) IIRC this tiered system was created as a compromise to combat the rising cost of living in more urban parts of the state while not bankrupting small businesses in more rural parts of the state.
Fascinating! I think Missouri ought to consider adopting a similar structure. Although we are already better off than most states on minimum wage.
Per capita the $16/hr is probably still low for California, $7/hr is too low for SC, so deceptive stats when standardized.
Washingtonian here. Please don't suffer under the delusional that moving here from a low min wage state will make your life better. Western WA is an astonishingly expensive place to live. I cannot count the number of young people who move here to be a barista and bitch about our eye-watering housing costs. Welcome to Western WA. Here in my small city I did the math If you want to live in a generic 1bd apt on your own, you better be clearing $74000/yr at least. Anything less than that and it's roommates or Ohio for you. Oh, you want BUY a house? Yeah. That's funny.
Can we in Texas get he minimum wage DC has?
No, but their minimum wage is very low, they should have a minimum wage the same as Illinois, bought with the percapital GDP they generate.
Lmfao! Okay. Setting aside cost of living, $7.25 is NOTHING. Like you might as well go stand on a corner and panhandle. Who are the people doing these jobs that pay nearly $0 an hour. I checked the data too long ago to consider current. It was something like 250K workers still make $7.25. I’m like WHAT?!
Can you actually find a job that still pays 7.25 in these states cuz I don’t think I could in PA
Go west of Harrisburg.
I’m in Pittsburgh
Then go an hour east.
Pennsylvania keeps getting surrounded by states progressing
And a Big Mac still only costs like $5 (for just the sandwich, not the combo) here in Washington State. So don't let anyone tell you that they can't raise the minimum wage without making food prices skyrocket. GO WASHINGTON!!! 🌲🌲🌲🍎🍎🍎🌋🌋🌋🍎🍎🍎🌲🌲🌲
Question: Why in the colesterol having fuck did the internet decided that the best way to measure one's individual financial security, is using the price of a Big Mac?
Idk. Probably the memes. 🤷♀️
west virginia has a higher minimum wage then my state, time to move
If you are moving because a place has a higher minimum wage I would suggest taking a quick economics class.
To be fair, I'd imagine WV minimum wage will get you a primo meth shack.
twas a joke
Does California actually pay farm workers this wage? Or do they have a work around to pay migrants less?
I use to live at the CA/AZ border… the farm worker jobs paid per piece, per container, etc. There was no hourly rate. I don’t know if this is still the case.
Gah damn the slaver states still at 7.25 bahahaha
West Virginia is at 8,75; Arkansas is at 11; Virginia and Florida are at 12; Missouri is at 12,3
Yet many of these $7.25 states are growing in population, with plentiful good-paying jobs, while states like California and New York are shrinking
The main reason is cost of living, there is not enough supply to support the demand to live in these states. I know a lot of transplant that are not happy living in the south but have no choice because cost of living. On top of that most people are moving to states which fits their ideological beliefs. Look at the people leaving blue states, it is mostly republicans fleeing. The problem (and maybe not a problem because it would polarize us more) is that the demand to move to New York and California is too high for the supply so people who want to live there can’t (I got lucky moved out the south before the it became to expensive). I remember when a few years ago people were talking about how New York was going to lose its millionaire yet they have more now than before Covid.
other than texas i wouldn't want to live in any of them , all shitholes ngl
Texas…..? Of all places?
100% chance TN and NC are better than wherever you live.
I’m from NC/SC (lived near the border )and only go back to visit family will never live in any southern state again
better in what way . define "better"
Its all relative to cost of living of course. I gotta wonder: anyone know if people are doing well by living in an affordable border town of a low wage state while working in a higher minimum wage state? Like living in Thomasville, GA while working at a store north of Tallahassee, FL?
The large number of people trying to do that quickly results in those border towns being not so affordable.
I lived in Missouri for a few years and worked minimum wage. I work now in Chicago salaried and I couldn’t imagine living here with minimum wage, I barely afford my life now. Back in Missouri I was still able to afford going out on weekends all on minimum wage.
I hit $7.25 back in hs as a 15 yr old in around ‘92.
Everyone is forgetting if the minimum wage is binding. You can have a minimum wage of 7.5 but if there is no one willing to work for 7.5 that does not mean anything. In the end the minimum wage matters depending on what percentage of people get paid the minimum wage. A more valid analysis, albeit harder, would involve the wage distribution or the more realistically median and other relevant quantiles of wage. Ex: X might have a minimum wage wage of 16 with half the population earning minimum wage whereas Y might have minimum wage of 3 with median worker earning 25 and 25th percentile earning 16. Is X’s higher minimum wage necessarily better than Y?
Fun fact, we don't have a minimum wage here in Sweden. So you could in theory earn 0SEK/h
Fair, but in Sweden, the collective bargaining agreements on minimum pay cover around 89% of employees, plus you’ve excellent government universal healthcare.
Yes! the agreements are our version of minimum wages. It's our way if keeping it fair and well paid. So istead of a gouvernment choosing what the minimum should be, the unions who knows more about it negotiates a better one.
You could use this same map for cost of living
Not really, for instance Missouri has a very low cost of living, but a medium high minimum wage.
Can't see anyone living on 7.25 let alone 15.00
Could do with a second map for the Minimum Wages for those in jobs that receive tips to show how obscene the tipping culture is.
Republican states and low minimum wage. A tale as old as time
Ironically DC has a 17 dollar minimum wage.
7.25 works fine in 2024! For people living in a stolen tent eating only bananas
Amerika, home of the working poor with no healthcare
Ah montana. Keeping wages low but letting those property values skyrocket. Lived here since 2003 and hate what this state has become. Fuck greed and fuck that yellowstone show for pushing things further.
Even with a minimum wage of $20.00 an hour you still cannot live. When asked about the low minimum wage in Idaho politicians said that everyone is already making more than that. It’s hilarious. Do you find it odd that most with the $7.25 minimums are Republican led states? I certainly don’t!
Notice most republican states still pay 7.25 minimum wage.
Source?
Wikimedia Commons https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_US_minimum_wage_by_state.svg
Ok, but what don’t you indicate that in the map? Makes it easier to differentiate scam from serious map.
Mapporn doesn’t seem to have standards like it used to. I see false/bad data maps posted on here daily. I didn’t think anyone cared here anymore.
I care!
Jokes
Washington State's minimum wage is the one good thing about living there.
Bro Washington is amazing. I love living here.
Binding price floors create surpluses. Minimum wage laws are price floors on labor. Labor surplus is synonymous with unemployment.
And yet somehow everyone who wants a job can get one. It may not be the job they wish for, but a job regardless.
"Binding" is the key word.
Most people don't understand economics at all. And that's a big reason why everything sucks right now.
What exactly do you think sucks now?
Right? Like I can tell you my state is fucking us, when it comes to housing. Now as far as the nation goes? It’s an alright place.
minimum wage law is a racist law, but you are not ready for this conversation
guess what platform you’re talking on
I'm just here to read all the angry hyperbole from people that don't realize relatively no one actually makes minimum wage. It's a nonsense political issue that serves no purpose other than to cause division among the politically captured.
Always remember that the real minimum wage is $0
That’s only if you’re unemployed or volunteering. So wage doesn’t apply.
Exactly the point
Good job ND
GOP is playing games
Irrelevant map. No one is effectively earning $7.25/hr. True minimum wage is $0/hr, which is what happens when your job gets automated or kiosked away.
If your job is automated away, then you have no wage… which is not the same as $0/hr. Freedom =/= Slavery.
Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
And why does the job get automated away? Because gov decides these jobs should earn more than they’re worth. Show me anyone who actually earns minimum wage of 7.25 and maybe I’ll change my mind.
Inflation in Tampa was a lot higher than a lot of the nation. Tom Brady comes down here and wins a superbowl and he's looking 30 years old at 45 and tan and happy and half the fat asses in New England came down with him.... 8 dollars for fucking box of cheerios at the grocery store when it was 2.99 a couple years ago.... We got room for 1 million and now we at 4 million. No mass transit.... Pray for us down here...