When adjusted for inflation, the 2024 federal minimum wage in the United States is over 40 percent lower than the minimum wage in 1970. Although the real dollar minimum wage in 1970 was only 1.60 U.S. dollars, when expressed in nominal 2024 dollars this increases to 13.05 U.S. dollars. This is a significant difference from the federal minimum wage in 2024 of 7.25 U.S. dollars.

Graph and download economic data for State Minimum Wage Rate for Virginia (STTMINWGVA) from 1976 to 2025 about minimum wage, VA, wages, rate, and USA.

In April 2025, the UK minimum wage for adults over the age of 21 in will be 12.21 pounds per hour. For the 2025/26 financial year, there will be four minimum wage categories, three of which are based on age and one for apprentice workers. Apprentices, and workers under the age of 18 will have a minimum wage of 7.55 pounds an hour, increasing to ten pounds for those aged 18 to 20. When the minimum wage was first introduced in 1999, there were just two age categories; 18 to 21, and 22 and over. This increased to three categories in 2004, four in 2010, and five between 2016 and 2023, before being reduced down to four in the most recent year. The living wage The living wage is an alternative minimum wage amount that employers in the UK can voluntarily pay their employees. It is calculated independently of the legal minimum wage and results in a higher value figure. In 2023/24, for example, the living wage was twelve pounds an hour for the UK as a whole and 13.15 for workers in London, where the cost of living is typically higher. This living wage is different from what the UK government has named the national living wage, which was 10.42 in the same financial year. Between 2011/12 and 2023/24, the living wage has increased by 4.80 pounds, while the London living wage has grown by 4.85 pounds. Wage growth cancelled-out by high inflation 2021-2023 For a long period between the middle of 2021 and late 2023, average wage growth in the UK was unable to keep up with record inflation levels, resulting in the biggest fall in disposable income since 1956. Although the UK government attempted to mitigate the impact of falling living standards through a series of cost of living payments, the situation has still been very difficult for households. After peaking at 11.1 percent in October 2022, the UK's inflation rate remained in double figures until March 2023, and did not fall to the preferred rate of two percent until May 2024. As of November 2024, regular weekly pay in the UK was growing by 5.6 percent in nominal terms, and 2.5 percent when adjusted for inflation.

Graph and download economic data for State Minimum Wage Rate for Ohio (STTMINWGOH) from 1968 to 2025 about minimum wage, OH, wages, rate, and USA.

From April 2025 onwards, the UK's main national minimum wage category, the national living wage, will rise to 12.21 pounds per hour, up from 11.44 pounds per hour in the previous financial year. This amount will apply to workers aged 21 and over, compared with 2022 and 2023 when it was only for workers aged 23 and over, and for those aged 25 and over between 2016 and 2021. The main minimum wage from 2010 to 2015 was the 21+ rate, and 22+ rate between 1999 and 2009. Evolution of the minimum wage Since its introduction in 1999, the minimum wage has had various rate categories, usually based on age. For the first five years, there were two categories, one for workers 18 to 21, and another for workers aged 22 and over. In 2004, a minimum wage for under 18s was introduced, and between 2010 and 2015 there were three rates based on age, and one for apprenticeships. Another age based-rate was added in 2016, but from 2024 onwards, the model will revert to four rate categories overall. In addition to the legal minimum wage, there is also a voluntary real living wage, which for 2024/25 is 12.6 pounds per hour, rising to 13.85 pounds per hour for workers in London. Wages continue to outpace inflation in 2024 Since July 2023, wages have grown faster than inflation in the UK with December 2024 seeing regular weekly earnings grow by 5.9 percent, compared with the CPI inflation rate of 2.5 percent that month. For almost two years between November 2021 and June 2023, wage growth struggled to keep up with inflation, with the biggest gap occurring in October 2022 when inflation peaked at 11.1 percent. The fall in real earnings in one of the most important factors in the UK's ongoing cost of living crisis. At the height of the crisis, around 91 percent of UK households were reporting a monthly increase in their cost of living, with this falling to 46 percent by March 2024.

Minimum Wages in the United States remained unchanged at 7.25 USD/Hour in 2025 from 7.25 USD/Hour in 2024. This dataset provides - United States Minimum Wages- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Graph and download economic data for Federal Minimum Wage Rate under the Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (STTMINWGFG) from 1968 to 2025 about minimum wage, federal, wages, labor, rate, and USA.

The minimum wage is a basic labour standard that sets the lowest wage rate that an employer can pay to employees who are covered by the legislation. Today, one of its main purposes is to protect non-unionized workers in unskilled jobs, although it can also influence, directly or indirectly, the level of compensation of other employees as well. A minimum wage constitutes a floor above which employees or their unions may negotiate with management for higher remuneration. However, it is rarely static: adjustments are required from time to time to maintain its relevance in changing economic and social conditions.

The minimum wage per day guaranteed by law in Mexico was decreed to increase by approximately 12 percent between 2024 and 2025, reaching 278.8 Mexican pesos in 2025. The Northern Free Zone located near the northern border was the exception, where the minimum daily wage increased to 419.88 Mexican pesos. Education and income disparity The income distribution is entirely a new story than minimum wages, in fact, there are many factors that influence the level of salaries for Mexican workers. One of the main differences is by the number of schooling years, someone with more than 18 years of study earns on average double than employees with seven to nine years. Moreover, the area of study, while statistics and finance mean salaries, the highest wages by degree, are above 30,000 Mexican pesos per month, others such as performing arts and theology rank as the lowest paying degrees in Mexico.
Poverty still among the main problems
Despite one of the main reasons for minimum wage increases being moving people out from poverty conditions, poverty continues to be one of the main problems Mexican society faces. The number of people living under poverty conditions has decreased by 8.54 million inhabitants from 2014 to 2022, nonetheless, the figure is still higher than 46.5 million. The poverty rate varies among states, with Chiapas leading the ranking with 67.4 percent of the population under such conditions, while both Baja California and Baja California Sur recorded less than 14 percent.

Wages in the United States increased 4.46 percent in January of 2025 over the same month in the previous year. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - United States Wages and Salaries Growth - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

Graph and download economic data for Federal Minimum Hourly Wage for Nonfarm Workers for the United States (FEDMINNFRWG) from Oct 1938 to Feb 2025 about per hour, minimum wage, nonfarm, workers, hours, federal, wages, and USA.

Minimum Wages in Australia increased to 915.90 AUD/week in 2024 from 882.80 AUD/week in 2023. This dataset provides - Australia Minimum Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Over the period observed, monthly minimum wages in Poland increased annually and reached 4,300 zloty (gross) as of July 2024. In January 2025, the minimum gross salary will increase, reaching 4,666 zloty (+10 percent compared to January 2024). Average monthly gross wages and salaries in Poland In 2022, women in Poland earned 15 percent less than men. Women’s pay was also lower than the monthly average gross earnings by eight percent. On the other hand, in 2023, the best-paid profession in Poland was in the mining and quarrying and information and communication industry, earning from 12 thousand zloty to over 13 thousand zloty gross per month. For example, the average salary of teachers amounted to 6.3 thousand zloty gross per month for a beginning teacher and nearly 9.5 zloty gross for a certified teacher as of January 2024. Average number of hours worked in main and additional jobs in Poland In the fourth quarter of 2023, the average number of hours worked in the primary job in Poland amounted to 38.9 hours per week. In that period, persons employed in the private sector worked almost two hours longer than in the public sector. Poles spent the most time working in the construction and transportation industry, over 40 hours per week. However, in the fourth quarter of 2021, the average number of hours worked in the primary and additional jobs in Poland amounted to 38.9 hours per week. In the observed period, men worked over two hours weekly longer than women.

Replication files for David Slichter, "The Employment Effects of the Minimum Wage: A Selection Ratio Approach to Measuring Treatment Effects,” Journal of Applied Econometrics, forthcoming Firstly, I’ve provided a .do file called sr.do which contains general code for implementing the selection ratio approach, with detailed instructions written as comments in the code. For the minimum wage application, the main data file is mw_final.dta. A .csv version is also provided. Observations are a county in a time period. I have added self-explanatory variable labels for most variables. A few variables warrant a clearer explanation: adj1-adj14: List of FIPS codes of all counties which are adjacent to the county in question. Each variables holds one adjacent county, and counties with fewer than 14 neighbors will have missing values for some of these variables. change, logchange: Minimum wage this quarter - minimum wage last quarter, measured either in dollars or in logs. time, t1-t108: The variable "time" converts years and quarters into a univariate time period, with time=1 in 1990Q1 and time=108 in 2016Q4. t1-t108 are indicators for each of these time periods. lnemp_1418, lnearnbeg_1418, lnsep_1418, lnhira_1418, lnchurn_1418: Logs of employment, earnings, separations, hires, and churn, respectively, for 14-18 year olds. gt1-gt6: Dummies for inclusion in each of the six comparisons used for the main (i.e., not spillover-robust) analysis. All treated counties which neighbor a control country take value 1 for each of these variables; all other treated counties take value 0. Among control counties, gt1=1 if the county neighbors a treated county and 0 otherwise, gt2=1 if the county has gt1=0 but neighbors a gt1=1 county, gt3=1 if county has gt1=gt2=0 but neighbors a gt2=1 county, etc. h2-h6: Dummies for inclusion in each of the first spillover-robust (i.e., excluding border counties only) comparisons. Among control counties, h2-h6 are equal to gt2-gt6. Among treated counties, h2-h6 are equal to 1 if the treated county has gt1=0 but borders a gt1=1 county, and 0 otherwise. k3-k6: Dummies for inclusion in each of the second spillover-robust (i.e., excluding two layers) comparisons. Among control counties, these variables are equal to gt3-gt6. Among treated counties, all observations take value 1 except those with gt1=1 or h2=1. The data sources are as follows. The minimum wage law series is taken from David Neumark's website (https://www.economics.uci.edu/~dneumark/datasets.html). The economic variables are taken from the QWI, which I accessed via the Ithaca Virtual RDC. County adjacency files were downloaded from the Census Bureau (https://www.census.gov/geo/reference/county-adjacency.html). The file main.do then runs the analyses. The resulting output file containing results is results.dta.

Minimum Wages in Canada increased to 17.20 CAD/Hour in 2024 from 16.55 CAD/Hour in 2023. This dataset provides - Canada Minimum Wages- actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Minimum Wages in Ireland increased to 12.70 EUR/Hour in 2024 from 11.30 EUR/Hour in 2023. This dataset provides - Ireland Minimum Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Minimum Wages in Brazil increased to 1518 BRL/Month in January from 1412 BRL/Month in December of 2024. This dataset provides - Brazil Minimum Wages - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

Kenya Monthly Minimum Wages: General Labour data was reported at 12,926.550 KES in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 10,954.700 KES for 2016. Kenya Monthly Minimum Wages: General Labour data is updated yearly, averaging 7,586.000 KES from Jun 2005 (Median) to 2017, with 13 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 12,926.550 KES in 2017 and a record low of 4,638.000 KES in 2005. Kenya Monthly Minimum Wages: General Labour data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Kenya National Bureau of Statistics. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Kenya – Table KE.G008: Monthly Minimum Wages.

Minimum Wages in Chile increased to 500000 CLP/Month in 2024 from 460000 CLP/Month in 2023. This dataset provides the latest reported value for - Chile Minimum Monthly Wages - plus previous releases, historical high and low, short-term forecast and long-term prediction, economic calendar, survey consensus and news.

China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data was reported at 1,060.000 RMB in 2011. This records an increase from the previous number of 870.000 RMB for 2010. China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data is updated yearly, averaging 641.000 RMB from Dec 2005 (Median) to 2011, with 6 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 1,060.000 RMB in 2011 and a record low of 367.500 RMB in 2005. China Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. The data is categorized under China Premium Database’s Labour Market – Table CN.GC: Standard of Monthly Minimum Wage.