Four Arguments For Raising the National Minimum Wage

Think you could live indefinitely on a job that pays $7.25 an hour? That's the national minimum wage set by the Fair Labor Standards Act as of July 24, 2009. If you add up the numbers, 50 weeks of 40-hour workweeks at the minimum wage comes to a total of $14,500 a year -- well below the U.S. poverty level of $22,050 for a family of four, and just about even for a household of two. In other words, the minimum wage is a far cry from being a living wage, which is why advocates for low-income workers are pushing for higher wages all over the country.