America's Minimum Wage: A Stain on the Soul of the Nation

For 15 long years, the federal minimum wage has been stagnant at a meager $7.25 per hour, trapping millions of workers (Oxfam America)—domestic caregivers, farmworkers, student workers, tipped wage workers, and workers with disabilities—in a cycle of poverty, earning a paltry $290 a week or less. This is a disgrace in the world's richest country.

A damning visual report from Oxfam America, published this month, reveals a shameful map of exploitation: a strong concentration of subminimum wage workers in the U.S. South, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana, with a disproportionate impact on people of color. The legacy of systemic racism haunts our economy.

The Living Wage: A Right, Not a Privilege

While the federal minimum wage stagnates, the cost of living soars. The Living Wage Calculator, developed by MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning, calculates the living wage for one adult in Texas as $20.92 per hour. Let that sink in. The City of Austin agrees, declaring a living wage of $20.80.

Millions of workers are struggling [...] as the result of federal inaction to raise the minimum wage.

Millions of workers are struggling, not because they aren't working hard enough, but as the result of federal inaction to raise the minimum wage. This is a choice. We are better than this.

The Numbers Don't Lie: Texas in the Crosshairs

A staggering 4,528,976 workers in Texas make less than $17 an hour. Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana also have a higher percentage of workers earning pitiful wages. This is not a coincidence; it is the result of systemic failures.

Caregivers and domestic workers, predominantly women and people of color, often earn less than the federal minimum wage. Our society undervalues the very people who hold our communities together. This is unacceptable.

The Demographics Tell a Tale of Inequality and Injustice

The breakdown by demographics is a chilling indictment of our nation:

• Racial Inequality: 28.2% of white workers in Texas make less than $17 an hour, compared to 34.2% of Black workers and a shocking 40.5% of Hispanic workers.
• Gender Inequality: 36.1% of women in Texas earn less than $17 an hour, versus 24.8% of men.

Low wages deepen inequality. Women (especially Black and Latina women) and people of color are disproportionately represented among the low-wage workforce, meaning they’re more likely to be trapped in poverty.

As Oxfam America rightly points out, low wages deepen inequality, trapping women and people of color in cycles of poverty. This is a stain on our collective soul.

The Time for Action is Now: Raise the Wage!

The report calls on policymakers to address wage injustices head-on, and rightly so. States and localities must lead the way, implementing their own wage laws to lift people out of poverty.

But we cannot stop there. Congress must pass the Raise the Wage Act to increase the federal minimum wage and remove exclusions in national minimum wage laws.

The status quo is unacceptable. We must do better. We must be bold. We must raise the wage.