When President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed America’s first federal minimal wage into regulation in 1938, it was 25 cents per hour. Adjusted for inflation, that might be price about $4.45 immediately.
Scroll over the chart to see the US federal minimal wage via historical past, and what it might be price in immediately’s {dollars}.
Supply: Bureau of Labor Statistics and Department of Labor
Observe: Figures adjusted to 2018 {dollars} utilizing the CPI-U
All through historical past, Congress has raised the minimal wage 22 instances. The present stage, at $7.25 an hour, was set in 2009.
Cities and states have the choice of setting their very own minimal wages. As of January 2019, 29 states had a minimal wage price above the federal stage.
