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This policymaking simulation will examine the issue of whether the federal minimum wage should be increased.
Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. For a full-time worker, this is an annual income of about $14,500 before taxes.
A single person earning this minimum wage and working full-time earns slightly above the federal poverty line. However, a worker earning minimum wage who has one or more children, or a spouse who is unemployed, earns less than the federal poverty line.
As you may know, states cannot have a minimum wage that is below the federal one. But they can raise it higher. Most states have passed laws to raise their state’s minimum wage above the federal level:
- 7 have raised it to $15 an hour,
- 14 have raised it to about $12,
- 10 have raised it to between $8.75 to $11.50, and
Nineteen states do not have a minimum wage higher than the federal one.