Stonehedge-
Yes, what I was implying is that I suspect it's already too low. Basically, you often get policy proposed (usually by bleeding-heart do-gooders) that's really progressive for its time. People then campaign for it with some determination without updating the demands. As time slips away, the proposal becomes more and more dated, and when it's finally adopted, e.g. by a conservative like Biden, it may already be obsolete and for true change, it should have been increased to $20 or $25/hour. I'm not saying it's a bad thing in itself (it's obviously going to help, if it actually gets paid, which experience of the minimum wage in the UK has shown it often does not, and I guess in the US, too, there would have been people well under $7.25), but you'd expect it to be in place for quite a long time now without further increases, and to only be increased when it's (again) too late. I hope I'm wrong, but sadly, that's usually how these things go.
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One thing to remember is that the cost of housing in the US is a fraction of what it is here. That is a broad generalisation (rural vs urban) but land is not in short supply in the US, so costs are lower.
I'd be interested to understand how the need for personal transport factors into that for spending power. (Car ownership mandatory due to no limited public transport).
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Oliver Schick
Aroogah
$7.25 per hour.
For context, my first summer job in 1988 was at a supermarket for $5 per hour when the minimum wage was $3.35. The CPI has roughly doubled between 1988 and 2020 so the increase is roughly commensurate.
The average earnings for all employees in the US was around $11.40 per hour in 2020
Still too low.