Since July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. This is the longest period without an increase since the nationwide minimum was established in 1938, according to The New York Times. Individual states can raise the minimum wage for their residents and many do.

But in the aftermath of essential workers, early retirement, rage quitting, quiet quitting, loud quitting and plain old quitting the U.S. saw a labor market in which there were 5 million more job openings than unemployed people. This created a space for workers to negotiate higher wages and has essentially “rendered the minimum wage increasingly meaningless,” according to the New York Times. READ MORE