Fight for $15

The Fight for $15 is an American political movement advocating for the minimum wage to be raised to USD$15 per hour. The federal minimum wage was last set at $7.25 per hour in 2009. The movement has involved strikes by child care, home healthcare, airport, gas station, convenience store, and fast food workers for increased wages and the right to form a labor union. The "Fight for $15" movement started in 2012, in response to workers' inability to cover their costs on such a low salary, as well as the stressful work conditions of many of the service jobs which pay the minimum wage.

The movement has seen successes on the state and local level. California was the first state to act in 2016. Alaska and Missouri were the most recent to act in 2024. Fifteen states and DC have now passed laws that gradually raise their state minimum wage to at least $15 per hour. Four more states are expected to reach $15 by 2027 due to inflation adjustments. This will mean 48% of the country will have a $15 minimum wage by 2027. Twenty states with 37% of the population are currently stuck at the federal minimum.^[5]^[6]^[7] Major cities such as San Francisco, New York City and Seattle, where the cost of living is significantly higher, acted earlier to raise their municipal minimum wage to $15 per hour with some exceptions. On the federal level, the $15 proposal has become significantly more popular among Democratic politicians in the past few years, and was added to the party's platform in 2016 after Bernie Sanders advocated for it in his presidential campaign.^[8]

In 2019, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act, which would have gradually raised the minimum wage to $15 per hour. It was not taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate. In January 2021, Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives reintroduced the bill.^[9] In February 2021, the Congressional Budget Office released a report on the Raise the Wage Act of 2021 which estimated that incrementally raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would benefit 17 million workers, but would also reduce employment by 1.4 million people.^[10]^[11]^[12] On February 27, 2021, the Democratic-controlled House passed the American Rescue Plan pandemic relief package, which included a gradual minimum wage increase to $15 per hour.^[13] The measure was ultimately removed from the Senate version of the bill.^[14]

^ "State Minimum Wage Laws". Wage and Hour Division (WHD). United States Department of Labor. Click on states on the map to see exact minimum wage info by state. Scroll down for that info alphabetized by state, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.
^ Congressional Research Service (March 2, 2023). "State Minimum Wages: An Overview". Chart on page 3.
^ FRED Graph. Using U.S. Department of Labor data. Federal Minimum Hourly Wage for Nonfarm Workers for the United States. Inflation adjusted (by FRED) via the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average (CPIAUCSL). Run cursor over graph for nominal and real minimum wage by month.
^ Schmitt, John (June 12, 2013). "Minimum Wage: Catching up to Productivity". Center for Economic and Policy Research. Between 1979 and 2012, after accounting for inflation, the productivity of the average American worker increased about 85 percent. Over the same period, the inflation-adjusted wage of the median worker rose only about 6 percent, and the value of the minimum wage fell 21 percent.
^ https://www.epi.org/blog/nearly-half-of-u-s-workers-will-live-in-states-with-at-least-a-15-minimum-wage-by-2027-alaska-and-missouri-became-the-latest-states-to-enact-a-15-minimum-wage/
^ "Delaware becomes the 10th state (plus Washington, D.C.) to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour". July 19, 2021.
^ "Maryland just became the sixth state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour". March 28, 2019.
^ Weigel, David (July 9, 2016). "Democrats back $15 minimum wage, but stalemate on Social Security". The Washington Post.
^ "Democrats introduce bill to hike federal minimum wage to $15 per hour". CNBC. January 16, 2019.
^ "The Budgetary Effects of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office. February 1, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.
^ Selyukh, Alina (February 8, 2021). "$15 Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty But Cost Jobs, CBO Says". NPR. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would increase wages for at least 17 million people, but also put 1.4 million Americans out of work, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office released on Monday.
^ Cite error: The named reference WaPo_2021-02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "American Rescue Plan: What's in the House's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan". The Washington Post. February 27, 2021.
^ "Senate passes $1.9 trillion Biden relief bill after voting overnight on amendments, sends measure back to House". The Washington Post. March 6, 2021.

[minwage-1] "State Minimum Wage Laws". Wage and Hour Division (WHD). United States Department of Labor. Click on states on the map to see exact minimum wage info by state. Scroll down for that info alphabetized by state, District of Columbia, and U.S. territories.

[CRS-2023-2] Congressional Research Service (March 2, 2023). "State Minimum Wages: An Overview". Chart on page 3.

[FRED-graph-3] FRED Graph. Using U.S. Department of Labor data. Federal Minimum Hourly Wage for Nonfarm Workers for the United States. Inflation adjusted (by FRED) via the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: All Items in U.S. City Average (CPIAUCSL). Run cursor over graph for nominal and real minimum wage by month.

[CEPR_2013-4] Schmitt, John (June 12, 2013). "Minimum Wage: Catching up to Productivity". Center for Economic and Policy Research. Between 1979 and 2012, after accounting for inflation, the productivity of the average American worker increased about 85 percent. Over the same period, the inflation-adjusted wage of the median worker rose only about 6 percent, and the value of the minimum wage fell 21 percent.

[5] ttps://www.epi.org/blog/nearly-half-of-u-s-workers-will-live-in-states-with-at-least-a-15-minimum-wage-by-2027-alaska-and-missouri-became-the-latest-states-to-enact-a-15-minimum-wage/

[6] "Delaware becomes the 10th state (plus Washington, D.C.) to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour". July 19, 2021.

[vox.com-7] "Maryland just became the sixth state to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour". March 28, 2019.

[8] Weigel, David (July 9, 2016). "Democrats back $15 minimum wage, but stalemate on Social Security". The Washington Post.

[9] "Democrats introduce bill to hike federal minimum wage to $15 per hour". CNBC. January 16, 2019.

[CBO_2021_Min_wage-10] "The Budgetary Effects of the Raise the Wage Act of 2021" (PDF). Congressional Budget Office. February 1, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 8, 2021. Retrieved February 9, 2021.

[NPR_2021_CBO-11] Selyukh, Alina (February 8, 2021). "$15 Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty But Cost Jobs, CBO Says". NPR. Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would increase wages for at least 17 million people, but also put 1.4 million Americans out of work, according to a study by the Congressional Budget Office released on Monday.

[WaPo_2021-02-12] Cite error: The named reference WaPo_2021-02 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[13] "American Rescue Plan: What's in the House's $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief plan". The Washington Post. February 27, 2021.

[14] "Senate passes $1.9 trillion Biden relief bill after voting overnight on amendments, sends measure back to House". The Washington Post. March 6, 2021.

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