the feminist librarian reads

Wal-Mart minimums will be higher than the federal minimum wage of $7.25…a pathetically low benchmark. The federal minimum, which applies where state minimums are lower, hasn’t been raised since 2009. And it isn’t nearly what it used to be. In terms of buying power, the federal minimum wage peaked in 1968, when it was nominally $1.60 an hour. That would be the equivalent of $10.88 today. To put it another way, Wal-Mart employees receiving the company minimum even next year will still be earning less in real terms than the minimum wage nearly a half-century ago. To call that “progress” requires stretching the definition of the term beyond the breaking point.