More than four years after the official end of the Great Recession, pay for America’s workers remains stagnant while the cost of living continues to rise. Low-wage occupations have dominated job growth in the post-recession recovery, accelerating a decades-long shift in the U.S. economy toward lower-paying jobs. At the same time, the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, which translates to just $15,080 per year for a full-time worker, remains decades out of date, and the federal minimum wage for tipped workers – $2.13 per hour – has not increased in over twenty years.
The bill will help restore much of the lost value of the federal minimum wage, providing America’s lowest-paid workers with an urgently needed raise while boosting the consumer spending that fuels our economy.