One promise of President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign was increasing the minimum wage to $15; however, only government workers got the raise, while half the country struggles with not enough money over shocking fact.
$15hr minimum raise goes into effect for federal employees
On Friday, federal agencies received a memo directing them to implement President Joe Biden’s “general policy” of a $15 an hour minimum wage for all government workers.
Even though the memo was distributed on Friday, the minimum wage rule is set to go into full effect on January 30, as announced by the Department of Labor last November.
The memo was issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and sent to heads of executive departments and agencies. The Hill reported that the document guides adjusting pay rates for all federal employees to at least $15 per hour.
According to the OPM, those likely to benefit most from the minimum wage increase are estimated to be roughly 70,000 workers who have jobs in the Department of Agriculture, Defense Department, and Department of Veterans Affairs.
No national $15 an hour minimum wage?
It is important to understand that there is a difference between the “federal minimum wage” and the wage paid to federal employees. The latter is what the Biden administration has raised.
However, the federal minimum wage is another matter.
According to legal firm Cotney, the “federal minimum wage” is a standard for wages that employers cannot pay their employees less than, with few exceptions. However, this is a minimum guideline. Each state has its own standard for minimum wages. The federal guideline means a state can’t set its minimum wage lower than the federal standard. However, many states have a higher minimum wage than the federal requirement.
According to fact-checking site PolitiFact since 2009, the federal minimum wage has remained at $7.25 an hour.
Shocking: Due to lack of money, half of Americans couldn’t deal with this likely situation
Most people would agree that not only is it feasible that an unexpected expense of $1000 could occur in anyone’s life – it’s likely. The foremost culprits of such an expense would be medical or vehicle-related.
But what’s most shocking is that half of Americans say they lack the savings to cover a surprise $1000 expense, according to a new survey from Bankrate.
Only 44 percent of those surveyed said they had enough money in the bank to handle an unexpected expense of $1000.
Of those lacking the funds to deal with a $1000 expense, 20% said they would cover such unplanned costs by paying for them with a credit card. Experts advise against doing so, if at all possible, as average interests on variable-rate credit cards last year exceeded 16%, according to data from Bankrate.
It is unclear if the reason behind this has to deal with low wages or too much spending on the part of those surveyed.
But what’s certain is that the 7% surge in inflation in 2021, the highest jump in nearly 40 years according to the Labor Department, is making it more difficult for people to save. Nearly half of those in the poll claimed higher inflation was hampering their efforts to save, CBS reported.
