34 states have a minimum wage higher than $7.25/hour. Maine, for example, has its minimum wage set at $14.65/hour according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Louisiana is one of only five states that have not adopted a state minimum. Because of this insultingly low wage, many workers are forced to live below the poverty line.
According to the Department of Labor, minimum wage was established in 1938 by the Fair Labor Standards Act as a way to protect workers and stabilize the economy after the Great Depression. While requiring employers to pay workers a set amount sounds good in theory, it only serves its purpose when it is constantly updated to reflect the current cost of living. For reference, the last time the minimum wage was updated was in 2009 when a dozen eggs cost around $1.66, as shown by the US inflation calculator.
Without these updates, employers can (and will) pay workers a wage less than what is necessary to survive. While some may claim that these workers need to ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’, even the government recognizes that the current federal minimum wage is not adequate.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has recently released its poverty guidelines for 2025. According to them, a one-person household making $15,650 annually is considered to be in poverty. A person making $7.25/hour an hour while working full time (40 hours per week) makes around $15,080—over $500 below the poverty line.
Some assert that these jobs are meant for high school kids who do not have to fully support themselves. However, this line of thought can easily be refuted even without figures. How then are fast food places open during school hours? Who do you think is flipping burgers during the lunch rush?
One way to see how the outdated minimum wage affects people is by looking at ULM’s student workers, who make $7.25/hour. According to Educational Data, college students in Louisiana spend about $275 on groceries monthly. In order for a student worker to make that much, they would have to work nearly 38 hours. Imagine if we could afford to spend that amount of time studying.
If the federal minimum is a poverty wage, then what would be a livable one? Conveniently, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has made a living wage calculator that uses the poverty guidelines to give a livable hourly rate for different kinds of households in Louisiana. According to this, a livable wage for a one-person household is around $20/hour.
The thought of a fast-food employee making $20/hour may spark outrage among ‘skilled’ workers, but that anger is misdirected. It is not that $20/hour is a lot for a fast-food worker; it is just that the majority of us are overworked and underpaid. Even as the cost of living continues to creep up, wages stay stagnant.
The point that the minimum wage needs to be raised has been frequently raised by many. In addition to a higher federal minimum, wages should fluctuate with the economy to protect all workers from the insidious danger of stagnant wages.
