Minimum Wage

The Center for American Progress has long worked to build the policy case for raising the minimum wage and eliminating the subminimum wage for people with disabilities and tipped workers. The following research and analyses demonstrate how people deserve to be paid fairly for their work and how a higher minimum wage would—rather than limit job growth—provide financial stability for families and boost overall economic growth.

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Fact Sheet: Building an Economy That Delivers for Women Fact Sheet
A woman pushing a stroller walks through an atrium with light pouring in and a small pool reflecting plant life

Fact Sheet: Building an Economy That Delivers for Women

This fact sheet offers a brief summary of CAP’s “Playbook for the Advancement of Women in the Economy,” which provides federal and state policymakers with the tools they need to center women in their economic plans and grow the economy.

Rose Khattar

Setting Sectoral Standards in the U.S. and the World Past Event

Setting Sectoral Standards in the U.S. and the World

Please join the Center for American Progress and a panel of esteemed experts for a discussion on sectoral bargaining.

Revolutionizing the Workplace: Why Long COVID and the Increase of Disabled Workers Require a New Approach Report
A doctor holds a patients hand during an appointment.

Revolutionizing the Workplace: Why Long COVID and the Increase of Disabled Workers Require a New Approach

Using new data from the U.S. Census Bureau to examine the impacts of long COVID on the labor market, this report recommends that employers, unions, and policymakers create better workplaces for disabled workers and all workers.

Mia Ives-Rublee, Rose Khattar, Anona Neal

Ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers would benefit everyone In the News

Ending the subminimum wage for tipped workers would benefit everyone

As voters in Portland, Maine, and Washington, D.C., prepare to head to the ballot box to decide whether to eliminate the subminimum wage for tipped workers, Justin Schweitzer explains why all workers—tipped and untipped—should be paid at least the state minimum wage.

MarketWatch

Justin Schweitzer

With Prices Rising, States and Cities Must Raise Their Minimum Wages In the News

With Prices Rising, States and Cities Must Raise Their Minimum Wages

Lily Roberts and Rose Khattar outline why, 13 years since the federal minimum wage was last increased, states and cities must take action to ease the economic strain many workers and families face now in light of global inflation.

Route Fifty

Lily Roberts, Rose Khattar

It’s Long Past Time To Increase the Federal Minimum Wage Article
Activists with Our Revolution hold $15 minimum wage signs outside the U.S. Capitol.

It’s Long Past Time To Increase the Federal Minimum Wage

This month marks 13 years since the federal minimum wage was increased. The lack of an increase during this period has disproportionately harmed women and people of color.

Ashfaq Khan, Rose Khattar

How Weak Safety Net Policies Exacerbate Regional and Racial Inequality Report

How Weak Safety Net Policies Exacerbate Regional and Racial Inequality

While all low-income individuals and families, particularly those of color, struggle to avoid falling into poverty, some receive less support solely because of where they live.

Alexandra Cawthorne Gaines, Bradley Hardy, Justin Schweitzer

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Be Transformative for Women Article
A woman wears a mask and gloves as she works as a cashier at a supermarket in Miami, April 2020. (Getty/Joe Raedle)

Raising the Minimum Wage Would Be Transformative for Women

Women make up the majority of workers who would benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025, as they are overrepresented in tipped and low-wage jobs.

Diana Boesch, Robin Bleiweis, Areeba Haider

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Related Priorities

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

Tackling Climate Change and Environmental Injustice

We pursue climate action that meets the crisis’s urgency, creates good-quality jobs, benefits disadvantaged communities, and restores U.S. credibility on the global stage.

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy

Restoring Social Trust in Democracy

Democracy is under attack at home and abroad. We must act to ensure it is accessible to all, accountable, and can serve as a force of good.

Building an Economy for All

Building an Economy for All

Economic growth must be built on the foundation of a strong and secure middle class so that all Americans benefit from growth.

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