What’s So Bold About $9.00 an Hour? Benchmarking the Minimum Wage

In his State of the Union address, President Obama heartened many progressives with a call for raising the minimum wage to $9.00 (from its current $7.25), and then pegging its value to increases in the cost of living. This would be a bold move, and it raises an important question: What should the minimum wage be? What is the appropriate floor for the labor market?

In addition to their text evaluation, Gordon and Schmitt created a colorful graphic to illustrate their findings. Gordon is a frequent contributor to Dissent magazine, a non-profit quarterly magazine which focuses on politics and culture topics.