Arkansas’s Current Minimum Wage Is Inadequate
A fair and adequate minimum wage is critical to a strong economic system that both supports the economic well-being of workers and their families and meets the labor needs of businesses. Unfortunately, although there have been periodic increases in the federal minimum wage over the past four decades, the purchasing power of those dollars has dropped steadily since the late 1960s. Rising prices, and the failure to adequately raise the federal minimum over the years, means that the real value of the minimum wage is $3 less today than it was in 1968.1 If it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years, the federal minimum wage would be over $10 an hour, compared to the minimum wage rate of $7.25 today.2