In 2025, the federal minimum wage is officially a “poverty wage.” The annual earnings of a single adult working full-time, year-round at $7.25 an hour now fall below the poverty threshold of $15,650 (established by the Department of Health and Human Services guidelines). The limitations of how the federal government calculates poverty understate how far the minimum wage is from economic security for workers and their families.
Raising minimum wage and housing would be an easy political platform to stand on but, of course, politicians are beholden to the rich.
It would be an easy platform for democrats to stand on if they hadn’t thrown away all of their credibility on the matter.