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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;-jeffB, post: 3640816, member: 27832&quot;]<a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/" rel="nofollow">The <i>inflation-adjusted</i> minimum wage is actually lower now than it was during most of the 1970s.</a> And that&#039;s using the official inflation numbers, which many believe understate actual inflation.</p><p><br /></p><p>When I was a college undergrad, the minimum wage was around $3.50/hr. I went to a state school, where tuition and room and board <i>combined</i> were $1500-2000 -- <b>per year</b>, not per quarter or semester. There were plenty of people who used minimum-wage jobs to help finance their education, opening the door for higher-skill, higher-wage jobs down the road.</p><p><br /></p><p>Today, the minimum wage has a bit more than doubled -- and college costs have increased <b>ten times</b>, again using my alma mater as a basis for comparison, and using nominal dollars.</p><p><br /></p><p>As for productivity, <a href="https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/" rel="nofollow">since 1979, worker productivity has increased nearly 70%, while <b>inflation-adjusted</b> wages have increased by 11.4%</a> -- and that&#039;s <i>overall</i>, across the economy; as I said above, the inflation-adjusted minimum wage has actually gone <i>down</i> over that period.</p><p><br /></p><p>So, without an increase in the minimum wage, where has all that <i>profit</i> -- the amount produced, minus the amount spent <i>and the amount paid in wages</i> -- gone?[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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