United States · Federal (Congress, Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division) · COFOG 04.1

Work, Wages and Family Leave

This area covers what a job has to pay and what it has to come with — the federal wage floor, the leave an employer owes, and the public support that decides whether a parent can take a job at all. It does not cover retirement and Social Security, health coverage, or the immigration rules that shape who is available to work.

Where things stand

The federal minimum wage has been 7.25 dollars an hour since July 2009, the longest stretch without an increase since the floor was created in 1938, and inflation has taken about a third of what it bought. Its direct reach has shrunk rather than grown: 843,000 workers were paid at or below it in 2024, about one percent of hourly workers, because thirty states and the District of Columbia have set their own higher floors while five states have no state minimum at all. The result is not a national wage policy but fifty of them, ranging from 7.25 dollars in Mississippi to 18.40 in Washington, D.C. Benefits are distributed the same way. Eighty percent of private-sector workers have paid sick leave, but only 58 percent in the lowest-paid quarter of jobs against 94 percent in the highest-paid quarter, and just 27 percent have paid family leave from their employer at all — the United States is the only high-income country with no national paid maternity leave. Fourteen states and the District of Columbia have built their own paid family and medical leave insurance instead. Child care is the third constraint and the one that has moved fastest: the average annual price reached 13,184 dollars in 2025, more than in-state public college tuition in most states, which for a single parent is roughly a third of median income. Every one of these three gaps has a federal bill behind it in the current Congress, and none has reached a floor vote.

Facts & figures

7.25 dollars an hour

Federal minimum wage, unchanged since July 2009

→ unchanged for 17 years, about a third lower in real terms

843,000

Workers paid at or below the federal minimum, about one percent of hourly workers

↘ falling, because states raised their own floors — 13 percent in 1979

30 states and DC

With a minimum wage above the federal floor; five states have no state minimum at all

↗ rising, more than 23 states raised their rate for 2026

22.2 million

Workers whose pay would rise if the federal floor reached 17 dollars, 15 percent of the wage-earning workforce

→ estimate for the bill before Congress, phased to 2030

27%

Private-sector workers with paid family leave from their employer

↗ rising slowly; the United States is the only high-income country with no national programme

58% against 94%

Access to paid sick leave in the lowest-paid quarter of private-sector jobs against the highest-paid quarter

↗ rising at both ends, the gap barely moving

14 states and DC

With a mandatory paid family and medical leave insurance programme of their own

↗ rising, Maryland and Virginia begin paying benefits in 2028

13,184 dollars

Average annual price of child care, above in-state public college tuition in most states

↗ rising, about 10 percent of median income for two parents and 33 percent for one

Sources: U.S. Department of Labor, State minimum wage laws · Bureau of Labor Statistics, Characteristics of minimum wage workers · Economic Policy Institute, The impact of the Raise the Wage Act of 2025 · Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employee Benefits in the United States · Bipartisan Policy Center, State paid family leave laws across the United States · Child Care Aware of America, Child care in America: price and supply — as of 2024–2026, last reviewed 09/2026

Overview

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Proposals

3 evaluated · sorted by balance

Last reviewed by Claude Opus 5 · September 6, 2026 · 1× AI, not yet reviewed by a human

September 6, 2026AI reviewClaude Opus 5First evaluation
Area created for the English side: scope, situation and key figures researched against Labor Department, Labor Statistics and benefits survey data.

Evaluations are produced with AI support and reviewed on a schedule for new developments; human passes are marked separately.How we review →

Evaluated with the Global Debate Evaluation Standard (GDES), Scoring v1.3 · global scale, comparable across areas · How we score →