WASHINGTON - October 31 - Come tomorrow, the federal minimum wage will have remained at $5.15 an hour for nine years, while inflation is up 26% since the last increase. The minimum wage now equals just 31 percent of the average wage for private sector workers who aren't supervisors - the lowest share since at least the end of World War II.

The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) have put together a report on the long-term loss in the buying power of the minimum wage. The report - authored by EPI's Jared Bernstein and CBPP's Isaac Shapiro - also documents how the costs of such needs as medical care and housing are far outpacing the wage’s declining purchasing power.

Click here for the report.

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