Federal Minimum Wage Act Seeks Increase to $15/Hr by 2024

Representative Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaiʻi stood with Senator Bernie Sanders and Democratic leaders from the House and Senate to introduce the Raise the Wage Act today. The legislation would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2024 and index the minimum wage to the median wage growth thereafter.

Photo by Wendy Osher.

It has been a decade since legislation was enacted increasing the federal minimum wage. When adjusted for inflation, about 40% of today’s workers earn less than the minimum wage in 1968. The Raise the Wage Act would give more than 41 million low-wage workers a raise, increasing the wages of almost 30% of the US workforce.

The Hawaiʻi minimum wage increased to $9.25 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2017; and will undergo another increase to $10.10 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2018.

“In my home state of Hawaiʻi, and across the country, far too many people are working one or two full-time minimum wage jobs, living in poverty, and barely scraping by. The federal minimum wage has fallen far behind inflation and has actually lost value over time, meaning working families are making less while paying more just to make ends meet. The federal minimum wage has stagnated for the last 10 years—it is long overdue for Congress to do the right thing for hard-working Americans and raise the minimum wage,” said Rep. Gabbard.

Congresswoman Gabbard has supported legislation to raise the federal minimum wage throughout her time in Congress, and is an original cosponsor of the legislation introduced today. She has also cosponsored legislation like the Paycheck Fairness Act (H.R.1869) to address wage discrimination across the United States.