Federal Minimum Wage History
Effective Date Hourly Wage
10/24/1938 $0.25
10/24/1939 $0.30
10/24/1945 $0.40
01/25/1950 $0.75
03/01/1956 $1.00
09/03/1961 $1.15
09/03/1963 $1.25
02/01/1967 $1.40
02/01/1968 $1.60
05/01/1974 $2.00
01/01/1975 $2.10
01/01/1976 $2.30
01/01/1978 $2.65
01/01/1979 $2.90
01/01/1980 $3.10
01/01/1981 $3.35
04/01/1990 $3.80
04/01/1991 $4.25
10/01/1996 $4.75
09/01/1997 $5.15
07/24/2007 $5.85
07/24/2008 $6.55
07/24/2009 $7.25

John_AZ

$1.00 an hour as plumber's assistant 1952. Got a raise to $1.25 as apprentice in 1953.

Tom

i'm working at a bakery making stuff, and cleaning up after the more lazy higher paid employee. i started at 5.15 two years ago with no experience and now 6.90 made manitory from uncle sam........

I don't get paid to think, I get paid to Do..... :rolleyes:

My Japanese 2nd generation grandpa used to pay us grandkids $2.00 an hour to shovel furrow ends, prop up the fruit tree branches, prune vineyards, etc.

He called it "apprentice wages". Motivated the hell out of all of us to finish high school and get a college degree.

Never quite min. wage but IIRC my lowest paying job ever was $4.25/hr in the early 80's. Now I pay summer interns or entry-level receptionists ~$15/hr

digging ditches in Louisiana

...in the summer

so long ago the min. wage must have been new....

no idea what it was but I made gas money for my Kawasaki M/C

Arnold has it all wrong. Instead of reducing the wages to $6/hr, he should RAISE them to $60/hr.

Same principle as the "economic stimulus" package. Think of all the spending those govt workers would be doing at those wages! Plus, he'd eliminate poverty. It's a win-win!

1977, $2.10/hr.
The Old Spaghetti Factory as a bus boy.
You did get tipped out by the server at the end of the shift...
I hated that job and the restaurant industry.... Never went back...