Raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $15/Hour

The federal minimum wage should have reached $21.72 per hour in 2012 if it accounted for inflation and increase in work productivity since 1968, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour is not a livable wage in the 21st century. According to Card and Krueger's analysis in the British Journal of Industrial Relations on the effects of wage on employment, there is a limited unemployment effects from a raise in wage. Across the country the "Fight for $15" movement is protesting for a wage raise similar to the proposed raise by the Seattle mayor. While $15 is not the perfect minimum wage, it is a marked improvement which will save many Americans from poverty in this age of massive wealth inequality.