Floored

摘要

IT IS NORMAL for America's federal minimum wage to go through periods of declining influence. It is fixed in cash terms, meaning it bites hardest whenever Congress raises it, then declines in relevance as earnings grow. Between 1998 and 2006, for example, the federal minimum stayed constant at $5.15 per hour, while average wages grew by around 30%. What is unusual about the last decade is that another force is also causing the federal pay floor to be left behind: state and local governments. According to the University of California Berkeley's Labour Centre, a research hub, 44 cities and counties apply their own minimum wages today, compared to just five before 2012. At the start of 2019, 20 states raised their pay floors.