America has never gone this long without hiking the federal minimum wage

Kevin Hassett, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said he and President Trump have not discussed the administration’s position on raising the federal minimum wage. The “effective” minimum wage — the average wage being paid to all minimum wage workers — has surged to $12 an hour, largely due to state and local governments’ hikes, according to a report in the New York Times by an economist who served in the Treasury Department under President Barack Obama. In November 2018, White House National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow called the federal minimum wage a “terrible idea” and “silly,” arguing it hurts small businesses by increasing their costs.

Source: www.washingtonpost.com