For those living in a metropolitan city, $7.25 may feel like a small snack and a drink at best, but for many Americans, this is the reality of the federal minimum hourly wage.
The amount has been exactly the same since 2009, so no wonder that boosting it to $15/h became one of the Biden administration’s priorities. "No one should work 40 hours a week and live in poverty," he announced previously.
But right now, Biden is facing resistance in Congress as he acknowledged that the proposal will likely have to be omitted from the $1.9 trillion coronavirus financial relief plan. And while raising the wage would reduce the number of people in poverty and increase the pay for 27M workers, it will likely increase the federal budget deficit.