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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Trump Takes Aim at Minimum Wage In the News

Trump Takes Aim at Minimum Wage

In an op-ed for The Progressive, Aurelia Glass explains how Trump’s economic policy agenda will make life harder for working families.

The Progressive

Aurelia Glass

The Trump Administration Is Quietly Gutting Minimum Wage Protections for Millions of Workers Article
A group of workers is seen walking along a brick pathway.

The Trump Administration Is Quietly Gutting Minimum Wage Protections for Millions of Workers

The administration has already cut minimum wage protections for hundreds of thousands of federal contract workers and halted plans to require companies to pay disabled workers at least $7.25 per hour; this Labor Day, it will advance plans to eliminate federal minimum wage protections for millions of child care and home care providers.

Aurelia Glass

Despite Musk’s Departure, Trump’s War Against Unions and Workers Will Continue Article
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference with Elon Musk.

Despite Musk’s Departure, Trump’s War Against Unions and Workers Will Continue

While DOGE made headlines for firing tens of thousands of federal workers, Elon Musk's departure will not slow down the Trump administration’s efforts to end collective bargaining for more than 1 million workers, slash wage protections for hundreds of thousands, and muzzle a key agency protecting organizing rights.

Aurelia Glass

CAP Submits Comments Supporting Proposed Section 14(c) Rule To End Subminimum Wages for Disabled People Article

CAP Submits Comments Supporting Proposed Section 14(c) Rule To End Subminimum Wages for Disabled People

The Center for American Progress submitted comments in support of the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division’s new proposed rule to phase out Section 14(c) of the Fair Labor Standards Act, ensuring disabled workers are no longer paid subminimum wages.

Mia Ives-Rublee

The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage Article
Activists in the restaurant and service industries gather for a Raise the Wage Act rally.

The Minimum Wage Is a Poverty Wage

The federal minimum wage has lost the ability to keep workers out of poverty; but this November, voters in multiple states will have the chance to ensure better wages.

Kyle Ross

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

Higher State-Level Minimum Wages Aid in Faster Jobs Recovery Article
Photo shows a server wearing a bright green shirt and an apron pointing to items on a menu in front of a customer

Higher State-Level Minimum Wages Aid in Faster Jobs Recovery

Since January 2021, employment in the leisure and hospitality industry has recovered faster in states with minimum wages higher than the $7.25 federal minimum.

Jessica Vela

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.

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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

Rural Workers of Color Need a $15 Federal Minimum Wage Article
Laborers harvest yellow onions, April 2007. (Getty/Robert Nickelsberg)

Rural Workers of Color Need a $15 Federal Minimum Wage

Increasing the federal minimum wage will help address decades-long inequalities in the rural job market.

Caius Z. Willingham

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

The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty Report

The Basic Facts About Children in Poverty

Nearly 11 million children are living in poverty in America. Here is how the crisis reached this point—and what steps must be taken to solve it.

Areeba Haider

Observing Minimum Wage Workers’ Equal Pay Day Article
Store employees check out customers at a supermarket in Miami, May 2018. (Getty/Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group)

Observing Minimum Wage Workers’ Equal Pay Day

March 19 marks how far into the new year minimum wage workers must work to earn the same amount they did in 2009, the year Congress last increased the federal minimum wage.

Lily Roberts, Galen Hendricks, Robin Bleiweis

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