--- title: Don't Like Minimum Wage Increases? Be Mad at the Top Earners description: All workers should have equal opportunity to a livable wage canonical: https://time.com/3893862/la-minimum-wage-increase-inequality/ author: Darlena Cunha article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-27T21:19:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:11.258Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Don't Like Minimum Wage Increases? Be Mad at the Top Earners og:description: All workers should have equal opportunity to a livable wage og:url: https://time.com/3893862/la-minimum-wage-increase-inequality/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Don't Like Minimum Wage Increases? Be Mad at the Top Earners twitter:description: All workers should have equal opportunity to a livable wage twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Don't Like Minimum Wage Increases? Be Mad at the Top Earners > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: A History Of The Minimum Wage [Watch (HLS stream): A History Of The Minimum Wage](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/KFNoRaXc.m3u8) (3:56)  _Published 2014-02-28. See who raised the minimum wage and when throughout history._ by [Darlena Cunha](https://time.com/author/darlena-cunha/) ## Darlena Cunha May 27, 2015 9:19 PM UTC by [Darlena Cunha](https://time.com/author/darlena-cunha/) ## Darlena Cunha May 27, 2015 9:19 PM UTC Los Angeles has become the first city of its size to approve [a minimum wage increase](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/20/us/los-angeles-expected-to-raise-minimum-wage-to-15-an-hour.html?%5Fr=0) from $9 an hour to $15 an hour by 2020\. Since the federal minimum wage was instituted in 1938, it has increased 22 times, but the increases haven’t always kept up with rises in inflation and the cost of living. Los Angeles’s minimum wage increase is a welcome step to address that disconnect, and criticism of it distracts from the larger benefits of ensuring that low-wage workers are given equal opportunity to a livable wage. Some argue that increasing the federal minimum wage would be bad for the economy, would cause layoffs, and would kill small businesses. These arguments have been disproven not only by time and experience, but also by longitudinal research studies, according to the [Department of Labor.](http://www.dol.gov/minwage/mythbuster.htm) But the most troubling argument against increasing the minimum wage is made by working-class people who fear that an increase in the minimum wage would give less-experienced workers more money while their salaries remain the same, rendering years of work, education, and experience useless. Small business owners often [argue](http://www.npr.org/2012/07/08/156458470/raising-minimum-wage-a-help-or-harm) that as the minimum wage rises, more-experienced employees would want a raise, too, and the business would be forced to make cuts to accommodate. Director Kevin Smith helped perpetuate this fear by poking fun at the Los Angeles minimum wage increase on [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/YesThatKevinSmith/posts/10152768236401930). “Los Angeles raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour. F— film: for that kinda money, I’m going back to work at convenience stores again.” What Smith and others fail to realize is that increasing the minimum wage is not meant to equalize all people regardless of experience, but to raise the bottom pay level up to a livable amount. [The Center for Economic and Policy Research](http://www.forbes.com/sites/susanadams/2013/11/11/the-minimum-wage-debate-whos-right/) found that raising the minimum wage has no effect on hiring, meaning people [need not fear for their jobs](http://www.cepr.net/documents/publications/min-wage-2013-02.pdf), and the [Economic Policy Institute](http://www.npr.org/2012/07/08/156458470/raising-minimum-wage-a-help-or-harm) has estimated that raising the federal minimum wage could increase salaries for 30 million Americans. Others fears that an increase in the minimum wage would cancel out the value of having a college education. Many with college degrees are working hard at jobs, unable to make ends meet, and drowning in school loans. But it isn’t the fault of the unskilled workers that a college education isn’t paying for itself anymore. An increase in the minimum wage would have positive effects on many other jobs at all levels. Christina Romer, a University of California, Berkley, economics professor, economist and former chairwoman of President Barack Obama’s Council of Economics found that [higher wages lead to lower employee turnover rates](http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/business/the-minimum-wage-employment-and-income-distribution.html), meaning both companies and employees benefit from job stability and experience when wages match skill sets and start at a livable level. Less money needs to be spent on training, and less turmoil exists in the workplace when people are content in their jobs. The bottom line is that giving people the chance to work for a living wage does not chip away at those who have worked hard to already be able to afford their lives. An increase like the one in Los Angeles should be celebrated. Those unhappy with their own economic standing shouldn’t focus their ire on the bottom income earners, but on the top. ## Transcript >> In 1938, the very first federal minimum wage was set at $ 0. 25 cents an hour when Franklin Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The wage is not tied to the rate of inflation, so it only goes up through congressional action. Twenty- two times since 1938, Congress and the President have worked together to raise it. Here's a look at when the wages have gone up over time. Keep an eye on the number in blue, which shows you how much that amount would be worth in today's dollars. -[ Music Playing ] [ Music Playing ] [ Music Playing ] [ Music Playing ] [ Music Playing ] [ Music Playing ] >> At its peak, the minimum wage in 1968 was worth $ 10. 75 in today's dollars, but the purchasing power that goes with it has not kept up. So, if you earn minimum wage in the 1960s, it was enough to fill up your basket with a week's groceries. 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