Minimum Wage Increase: Value Was at a 51-Year Low

In 2006, despite rising health care, college and energy costs, the minimum wage was frozen at $5.15 per hour for more than nine years. This was the longest period without a minimum wage increase in history. A full-time minimum wage worker in 2006 earned only $10,712, which is $5,888 less than the $16,600 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty. Today, the buying power of the minimum wage is at its lowest level in 51 years. Meanwhile, the average CEO was paid 821 times more than a minimum wage worker in 2005. [Source: Economic Policy Institute, 6/06]

Minimum Wage Frozen While Cost of Basic Items Skyrockets, 2000-2005:

[Source: College Board, U.S. Energy Information Administration, Kaiser Family Foundation, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics]