The federal minimum wage has stood at $7.25 per hour since its last revision in 2009. In the same time, the wealth of the top 1 percent has doubled.
Federal minimum wage provisions fall under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA does not include wage payment or collection procedures for an employee's usual or promised wages or commissions over those required by the FLSA. Employees are generally paid the highest minimum wage prescribed by federal, state, or local laws. Since July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour. A state's minimum wage can be higher than the federal minimum wage. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) points out the significant rise in income inequality and chronically slow growth in the living standards of low and moderate-income Americans. As a result, there has been wage stagnation of hourly wage growth for the vast majority of American workers over the past generation. The EPI further noted that "the past few decades, the American economy generated lots of income and wealth that would have allowed substantial living standards gains for every family. However, overall income and wealth continued to grow disproportionately to the best-off 1 percent." The wage inequality described by EPI reveals that there has been an exponential growth of annual income for the top 1 percent, which includes America's top 40 wealthiest individuals when compared with the rest of the country's population. The analysis indicates that since 1975 wages of the top 1 percent grew 138 percent, while wages of the bottom 90 percent grew just 15 percent. It has also been noted that since the last federal minimum wage revision in 2009, the net worth of the top wealthiest 1 percent in the U.S. has more than doubled.
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