It's Now Been 15 Years Since The Federal Minimum Wage Was Increased

The Great Recession had just formally ended, Barack Obama was entering only his seventh month in the White House and the Black Eyed Peas were atop the Billboard Hot 100 with “I Gotta Feeling.”

That’s what was happening in America the last time the federal minimum wage was increased on July 24, 2009 — the last of a series of hikes signed into law by former President George W. Bush in 2007.

Fifteen years later, it remains just $7.25 per hour, the equivalent of a $15,000 salary for someone working full-time.

A lot has happened on the state and local levels over the past decade and a half. A majority of states, including several dominated by Republicans, have bumped their own minimum wages well above the federal rate, with some headed to $15 per hour and beyond .

And many localities have taken matters into their own hands, implementing robust minimum wages through referendums and local ordinances. A total of 60 cities and counties will increase their wage floors this year, according to an analysis from the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for higher minimum wages.

Some have even abolished the “tipped” minimum wage, guaranteeing servers and other tipped workers the same minimum rate as other workers before gratuities.

Yet the federal minimum wage has seen no movement at all, thanks primarily to resistance from Republicans in Congress.

If Donald Trump wins the White House or Republicans take full or partial control of Congress this fall, the odds of the minimum wage increasing anytime soon will probably stay close to nil.

The federal rate has lost some of its relevance due to those state wage increases as well as the tight pandemic-era labor market, which forced employers to bid up wages to retain