Chart: Massachusetts minimum wage benchmarks

Table 1

Massachusetts minimum wage benchmarks

	Federal minimum wage		Mass State Minimum	Proposed increases
	In 1968	In 2017	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021
Standard of living benchmarks
Nominal value	$1.60	$7.25	$11.00	$12.00	$13.00	$14.00	$15.00
Real value (2017$)*	$9.90	$7.25	$11.00	$11.74	$12.43	$13.07	$13.68
Percent of 1968 value (based on CPI-U-RS)	100.0%	73.2%	111.1%	118.6%	125.5%	132.0%	138.1%
Wage distribution benchmarks
As a percent of state full-time full-year (FTFY) median wage (range of 0.0%-0.5% wage growth)	52.1%	33.6%	42.4% – 42.7%	45.1% – 45.5%	47.5% – 48.2%	49.7% – 50.7%	51.8% – 53.0%
“Bite” – Percent of workers at or below the minimum wage using 2016 wage distribution (assuming 2018 start)	n.a.	3.3%	11.1%	14.3%	15.5%	18.7%	22.5%
Pace of nominal change
Total nominal change in the minimum wage	28%	40.8%	37.5%	9.1%	18.2%	27.3%	36.4%
Average percent increase per year for X years	13.1% for 2 years	12.1% for 3 years*	12.5% for 3 years**				9.1% for 4 years

Notes: Historical inflation adjustments use the CPI-U-RS. All projections for 2017 onward use CBO's June 2017 projections for inflation under the CPI. *Describes federal minimum wage increase from $5.15 to $7.25 that occurred from 2007-2009. **Changes describe Massachusetts state minimum wage increase from 2015-2017.

Source: EPI analysis of Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement microdata, Fair Labor Standards Act and Amendments, and Massachusetts state minimum wage proposals

This chart appears in:

Testimony of David Cooper before the Massachusetts Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development in support of S.1004 and H.2365

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