This Was the Minimum Wage the Year You Were Born - Iqraa news
- Minimum wage: $2
- In 2025 money: $13.63
Had the government not increased the minimum wage in 1974, It would have cratered from $13.63 in today's money all the way down to $10.91, which is still much better than today, by the way.
Economically speaking, the 1970s were defined by runaway inflation, which is the dramatic reduction of a currency's buying power. By the middle of the decade, inflation was so high that raising the minimum wage was like bucketing water out of a leaky boat — it had to be done almost continuously for the U.S. worker to stay afloat.
The government would raise the minimum wage every year or close to it throughout the remainder of the decade and into the early 1980s only to barely break even most years.
