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minimum wage
16 Years Without a Federal Minimum Wage Hike Is an Outrage
It’s long past time to fix this failure in our economy and in our politics.
Jul 18, 2025
When the minimum wage does not go up, it goes down in buying power. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009. For full-time workers that amounts to $15,080 if you are paid for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year.
The minimum wage is falling further and further behind the rising cost of living. The federal minimum wage peaked in buying power way back in 1968, when it was worth $15.09 in 2025 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator.
Too little, too late minimum wage increases are the next best thing to eliminating it for minimum wage opponents.
The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 through the Fair Labor Standards Act, which aimed to eliminate labor conditions “detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being of workers” and detrimental to fair competition among businesses.
We are now 16 years into the longest period in history without a federal minimum wage increase.
Twenty states have minimum wages no higher than the $7.25 federal level: Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Five of those states – Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee – don’t even have a state minimum wage and in Georgia and Wyoming the state minimum is $5.15, so the federal $7.25 minimum wage applies.
When the minimum wage is too low, workers can be making more than the minimum and still struggle to pay for rent, food, and other necessities.
In Louisiana, for example, the median hourly wage for home health and personal care aides in 2024 was just $10.18, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That means half of those workers earned less than $10.18. The median wage for fast food cooks was $10.70 in Mississippi and $11.73 in Texas. The median wage for childcare workers was $10.46 in Mississippi, $10.63 in Louisiana, and $10.78 in Alabama. Remember, the median wage is the midpoint, not the bottom.
The federal wage floor matters across the country. In Pennsylvania, for example, the $13.62 median hourly wage for childcare workers was much lower than the $17.61 median wage for childcare workers in neighboring New York, which has increased the minimum wage multiple times while Pennsylvania has not.
Fortunately, 30 states now have minimum wages higher than $7.25, but many are still below the $15.09 value of the federal minimum wage in 1968, adjusted for the cost of living.
Seventeen states plus D.C. have a minimum wage of $15 or higher or are phasing in scheduled increases to $15 or higher: Alaska, D.C., California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island and Washington State. The highest now are D.C. at $17.95 and Washington at $16.66.
Nationally, more than 14 million workers are paid less than $15 per hour, including overtime, tips, and commissions, according to the Economic Policy Institute’s Low Wage Workforce Tracker. Nearly 27 million make less than $17.
Raising the minimum wage is good for business as well as workers. Workers are also customers, and minimum wage increases boost the consumer spending that businesses depend on.
Raising the minimum wage also pays off in lower employee turnover, lower hiring and training costs, increased productivity, and better customer service, which keeps customers coming back.
Decades of rigorous research show that raising the minimum wage is beneficial and does not cause job loss.
State and local minimum wage increases are important, where possible. But it’s long past time to raise the federal minimum wage so people can earn decent wages wherever they live.
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House Progressives Launch New Effort to Rally Working Class for Electoral Wins in 2026
"In a time of record-breaking income inequality and rampant corporate greed," said one lawmaker, "it is more important than ever that we as Democrats reassert and reinforce our commitment to working people."
Jul 16, 2025
Four task forces announced on Wednesday by the Congressional Progressive Caucus will focus efforts on winning Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2026, with members rallying around one key idea that the party has been criticized for sidelining: "Americans are fed up with an economy and a government that are rigged in favor of the powerful and well-connected while failing to serve working people."
That was what U.S. Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) had to say, in part, as he was named the chair of a new task force on fighting corruption, with Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.) serving as vice chair.
After prosecuting fraud at the Securities and Exchange Commission and teaching law students at the University of California, Irvine, Min said he was "proud to continue the anti-corruption fight in Congress"—a fight that the CPC said is essential to winning the trust and votes of Americans as they decide whether Democrats or Republicans will control Congress after next year's midterm elections.
The policy proposals that the four new task forces will advance "enjoy support from voters across the ideological and demographic spectrum" and are all focused on making life easier for working-class Americans and shifting political priorities away from serving corporations and the wealthy.
The CPC cited new polling from Data for Progress that showed such policies—like raising the minimum wage and lowering the cost of essentials—"enjoy a supermajority and give a 9-point advantage for Democrats who lead with these themes compared to a generic Democratic message against a Republican opponent."
"Working people in America are getting screwed by corrupt politicians and big corporations that are driving costs up and keeping pay and benefits down."
The other task forces will be focused on lowering costs, with Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) chairing; ending corporate greed, with Rep. Becca Balint (D-Vt.) serving as chair; and securing better pay and benefits for U.S. workers, with Rep. Emily Randall (D-Wash.) chairing.
"In my home state of Arizona, families have been crushed by rising costs brought on by [President Donald] Trump and Republicans—whether it's skyrocketing healthcare premiums, unaffordable housing, or the soaring costs of education, childcare, long-term care, and even just commuting to work," said Ansari. "I'm honored to lead the Lowering Costs Task Force as one of the ways we're fighting back to deliver bold policies that will help working families.”
Randall said that in her district in Washington, she has watched as economic security has become less and less accessible for working families in recent decades.
"I've seen my grandparents, my teachers, my neighbors afford homes and vacations and childcare because they had good jobs. But over the years, affording a good life has gotten harder and harder," said Randall. "Our neighbors deserve leaders who put people before profits and stand up for what's right. They deserve leaders who understand that an economy that is centered on working people is a stronger economy for everyone. As chair of the Better Pay and Benefits Task Force, I'm committed to fighting for fairer wages, stronger benefits, safer workplaces, and an economy that puts working people first—right at the center of our policies."
The task forces were announced days after Trump signed his massive domestic policy package, which is opposed by more than 60% of Americans, according to a new poll, and makes the 2017 tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy permanent while cutting food assistance and healthcare spending.
"Working people in America are getting screwed by corrupt politicians and big corporations that are driving costs up and keeping pay and benefits down," said Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), who chairs the CPC. "Our four new task forces go directly at those big problems facing Americans: fighting corruption and corporate greed in order to lower costs and win better pay and benefits."
As the CPC announced the task forces, a coalition of dozens of civil society groups launched a political action committee aimed at centering working-class issues in the 2026 elections and winning back more than 35 House seats for Democrats.
"In a time of record-breaking income inequality and rampant corporate greed," said Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-Calif.), vice chair of the Better Pay and Benefits Task Force, "it is more important than ever that we as Democrats reassert and reinforce our commitment to working people."
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Mamdani Won the Primary; Now What?
Usually, such a great primary win in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City guarantees a smooth path to a November win against a Republican opponent. Not this time.
Jun 28, 2025
People are asking about my reaction to Zohran Mamdani’s spectacular and decisive upset in the Democratic primary victory for Mayor of New York over ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani’s victory was so overwhelming that Cuomo conceded generously, saying that Mamdani ran a “…highly impactful campaign…” “He deserved it. He won.”
Here are my observations:
1. Usually, such a great primary win in overwhelmingly Democratic New York City guarantees a smooth path to a November win against a Republican opponent. Not this time. No sooner than Wednesday, a clutch of wealthy Wall Streeters, real estate giants, and supporters of the genocidal Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were meeting to plan the strategy to defeat this 33-year-old three-term state assemblyman in the November general election.
Mamdani’s agenda is no more socialist than that of FDR.
2. Mamdani won with one repeated pledge—“affordability” to live in the nation’s largest city. That meant 1) freezing rent on 1 million rent-stabilized apartments; 2) free bus fares; 3) free, universal childcare; 4) “city-owned grocery stores,” 5) a higher minimum wage and higher taxes on the super-rich and higher corporate taxes.
Mamdani has other options at the ready that he did not even mention. Such as ending costly property tax abatements for large commercial buildings and ending the daily rebate of a tiny sales tax of $15 to 20 billion a year on stock transactions, transferred by Wall Street brokers to NY state. Those revenues can be shared with New York City. (See: greedvsneed.org). To expand affordable housing, Mamdani can tap into the National Cooperative Bank in Washington, D.C., which has long provided loans to construct cooperative housing projects—that is, housing owned by its residents.
3. With 993,546 votes counted, Mamdani beat Cuomo by 71,000 votes. The primary voter turnout was almost 1 million voters. In the general election turnout will be many more of the 7 million eligible voters. Therein lies a possible vulnerability in November. Mamdani got his vote out with 50,000 volunteers, including a surge of younger voters. In November, millions more voters may turn out who were not excited enough this month to turn out for this young “Democratic Socialist.” These additional voters might be a much tougher sell.
4. Mamdani’s agenda is no more socialist than that of FDR. In conservative New Hampshire, all liquor stores are owned by the state. In the red state of North Dakota, there is a thriving, prominent State Bank. The Tennessee Valley Authority and scores of city electric companies are owned by public authorities. And the list goes on. Reality will not stop the burgeoning campaign of slander, fakery, and bigotry underway against this charismatic American Muslim. Fascist Greedhound Donald Trump called him a “communist lunatic.”
Many millions of dollars are ready to redefine Mamdani falsely. He is an excellent and credible responder. That skill and veracity apply to his stand against Netanyahu’s mass murdering in Gaza and his position on equal rights for everyone. AIPAC will find him a more difficult candidate to defeat than Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.). He needs to forcefully counter AIPAC, a domestic agent of Netanyahu.
5. For his part, Mamdani has not yet adopted many of the progressive agenda planks ready for use in all campaigns, including local ones, along with new ways to get out the vote. Unlike most Democrats, Mamdani does not contract out his campaign to corporate-conflicted political consultants who have sabotaged Democratic voters for years. He speaks and acts for himself, from his mind and heart. He can make use of our report “Crushing the GOP, 2022” (still very relevant), featuring the political wisdom of 24 civic leaders for waging successful progressive campaigns (See: winningamerica.net). He can use the geographically specific database showing corporate subsidies by local governments (See goodjobsfirst.org). He can make use of the corporate crime trackers to make his case for cracking down on corporate crooks eating away at New York City’s consumer dollars and savings.
6. Finally, Mamdani’s access to the mass media should encourage him to embrace other progressive democratic primary challengers facing the decaying Democratic Party’s establishment that never learns from their losses to the worst, most corrupt, cruel GOP in the party’s history.
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