Living on Minimum Wage Is Getting Harder [GRAPH]
Value of minimum wage lower than it was 50 years ago
ByABC News
September 12, 2013, 9:44 AM
Sept. 12, 2013— -- It’s more difficult for U.S. workers who earn minimum wage to make a living than it was nearly five decades ago.
The nominal value of the federal minimum wage has risen from $1.60 in 1968 to $7.25 today. But real value of that wage, adjusted for inflation, has dropped by 26 percent over that span. The value peaked in 1968 at $10.70, but is now $7.90.
Here’s a chart illustrating how the minimum wage has changed over the past 50 years.