Chart: Preliminary, not final. The Fed OT salary threshold and the minimum wage, 1949–2016

Chart 3

Dates	Federal OT salary threshold (annualized)	WA minimum wage**
1949	$5200	N/A
1958	6500	N/A
1963	7800	N/A
1970	10400	N/A
1975	13000	4160
2004	23660	14892.8
2016	47476	19697.6

Notes:

Years provided are years in which the federal OT salary threshold was updated.

*Annual earnings for full time full year workers earning the federal minimum wage

**Annual earnings for full time full year workers earning the Washington state minimum wage

For years 1949, 1958, 1963 & 1970, data is unavailable for WA minimum wage

Sources: EPI analysis of Social Security Administration National Wage Index data; Office of Financial Management data; Table 1 in Social Security Bulletin, November 1949; Fair labor standards act and amendments:Wage and Hour Division,81 Fed. Reg. 32449-32450 (May 23, 2018);Washington State Department of Labor and Industries; and Bureau of Labor Statistics Employment and Earnings data

Previous chart: « The Raise the Wage Act would eliminate decades of growing wage inequality between the lowest-paid and the typical U.S. worker: Federal minimum wage as a share of the national full-time, full-year median wage, 1968–2018 (actual) and 2019–2024 (projected under the Raise the Wage Act of 2019 for two scenarios)

Next chart: At $15 in 2024, the federal minimum wage would no longer be a poverty wage: Annual wage income (2018$) for a full-time, full-year minimum wage worker, compared with various poverty thresholds, 1964–2018 (actual) and 2019–2024 (projected under the Raise the Wage Act of 2019) »