I KEEP TRYING TO TELL THEM

The discrepancy between the federal minimum wage and the real experience of workers throughout the country has led 30 states and Washington, D.C., to increase their minimum wage above the federal level. In the 20 states still using the federal minimum, 11.8 million workers earn less than $17 per hour, more than 1 in 5 workers in those states. Those states are disproportionately located in the South. The stagnation of the federal minimum wage allows Southern policymakers to maintain low wages in their economies. Southern workers have lower earnings even when adjusting for cost-of-living differences between regions. In part due to wage-suppressing policies like a low-minimum wage, Southern workers experience greater poverty than those in other regions.