Increase the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour

No sign of an increase yet

Updated: Thursday, December 3rd, 2009 | By Lukas Pleva

During the campaign, Barack Obama promised to increase the federal minimum wage to $9.50 an hour. This increase, he argued, would allow full-time workers to "earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs such as food, transportation, and housing – things so many people take for granted."

The federal minimum wage increased as recently as July 24, 2009, from $6.55 to $7.25. That was the third of the increases that Congress approved in 2007.

We haven't heard much from President Obama on the topic of minimum wage, except as a side issue during discussions of immigration reform and the historical role of labor unions. We reviewed his public statements since taking office and couldn't find any mention of his plans to raise it to $9.50.

We didn't find any pending bills in Congress that would raise the minimum wage. But there is a bill, introduced by Rep. Pete Olson, R-Texas, that calls for the minimum wage increase to be postponed until July 24, 2010.

We also searched statements made by Obama to see if, since taking office, he has provided a plan, or at least a broad outline, of how he plans to implement this proposal. We didn't find one.

Obama has until 2011 to keep this promise. We expect we'll probably see some progress in 2010. But there's been no action so far, so for now, we're rating it Stalled.

Sources: Labor Law Center, Federal Minimum Wage Increase for 2007, 2008, & 2009 , Accessed Dec. 2, 2009.

Project Vote Smart, Public Statements by President Barack Obama , Accessed Dec. 2, 2009.

Thomas Library of Congress, H.R. 3309 Summary , Accessed Dec. 2, 2009.