The federal minimum wage is at its lowest point in 50 years. Congress has not raised the minimum wage in a decade. As of December 2006, this will be the longest time Congress has ever gone without raising the minimum wage.
According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, increasing the federal minimum wage to $7.25 per hour over the next 26 months — as proposed by Sen. Edward Kennedy in an amendment to the Department of Defense Authorization bill — would raise the annual earnings of the average full-time, full-year, minimum-wage worker[1] by $1,520 (Boushey and Schmitt 2005).[2]
Raising the minimum wage is only the first step in helping families to make ends meet. First, it is important to recognize that a substantial share of minimum wage workers are adults making significant contributions to the total family income. In the early 2000s, fewer than one-in-five minimum wage workers was under the age of 20 and half were between ages 25 and 54 (Boushey 2005). In 2002, minimum wage workers earned an average of 68 percent of their total family income (Chapman and Ettlinger 2004).
To read the press release, visit: http://www.cepr.net/pressreleases/2006_06_19.htm