A federal minimum wage worker in the U.S. earned $5.15 an hour in the mid 2000s.

Back then, a fast food cheeseburger cost about 99¢.
One hour of work could buy roughly 5 burgers.
Today, the federal minimum wage is still $7.25 an hour, while that same burger can easily cost around $3.50.
Now, one hour of work buys barely 2 burgers.
So even though the price of everyday essentials has surged, the federal minimum wage hasn’t come close to keeping up.
If pay had truly matched the rising cost of basic goods, the minimum wage would be dramatically higher today.
Forget the charts. Forget the talking points.
Sometimes a simple cheeseburger tells the story of America’s cost of living crisis better than any economist ever could.