Just looked back at what happened with minimum wages across the US in 2022 - pretty interesting stuff actually. Turns out about half the country bumped their wage increase 2022, which is way more than I expected. Like, 21 states got raises on New Year's Day alone.

The increases varied a lot though. Some states like Arizona only went up 65 cents, but others like Virginia jumped a full $1.50. California and a few others hit that $15 mark through new legislation or ballot measures. Meanwhile, Florida's doing this gradual thing where it goes up $1 per year until it reaches $15.

Here's the kicker though - 20 states are still sitting at the federal $7.25 minimum, which hasn't budged since 2009. That's wild when you think about inflation. If you actually adjusted for what that money was worth back then, you'd need like $10 an hour just to match the purchasing power. Seven states don't even have their own minimum wage, so workers there are stuck with that federal rate.

The wage increase 2022 movement was pretty uneven geographically. Some states like Washington and New York went to $14+, but then you've got these other states where full-time minimum wage workers are basically earning around $15k annually. That's barely above the poverty line for individuals.

Congress tried pushing the Raise the Wage Act to bump the federal minimum to $15 over five years, but it's been stalled. So yeah, unless you live in one of the states that actually did a wage increase 2022, chances are things stayed pretty much the same for minimum wage workers. The gap between states keeps getting wider.