Person Shares Worrying Statistic About The Minimum Wage in 2010 and 2020, And People Contributed With More Statistics That Don’t Paint A Pretty Picture

Minimum wage numbers can tell a bigger story than most headlines do. In this case, a post comparing the U.S. minimum wage in 2010 and 2020 sparked a wave of replies, and the follow-up statistics were even more unsettling.

Reporter Ken Klippenstein pointed out that the federal minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 an hour for more than a decade, and people quickly jumped in with more figures about wages, inflation, and how far paychecks no longer stretch. The result was a viral thread that got people talking about who is really benefiting from the economy.

The numbers only got worse from there.

2010:

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2020:

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New Zealand was the first country in the world to introduce minimum wages. They passed the law in 1884, and the U.S. followed about 50 years later. Yes, the minimum wage law was introduced by F.D. Roosevelt in 1938. It was set at 25 cents an hour, which is roughly $4.45 in today’s money.

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Since then, Congress has raised it 22 times in total. The current minimum wage ($7.25 an hour) was set in 2009. Still, we should mention that cities and states have the option to set their own minimum wages; 29 states have exercised that right and have minimum wages higher than the federal rate.

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Of course, low minimum wages have caused many protests. “Fight for $15” is one of the many organizations demanding that the minimum wage should be equivalent to a living wage. It’s the minimum amount needed for a person to meet their basic needs, and it is $16.07 per hour. She used a family of four as an example, consisting of two working adults and two children.

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It’s the same fight as AITA over family members refusing to split bills fairly despite lower income.

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Wait, you’ll want to read about roommates arguing over rent split after one person’s income changes.