Minimum wage increase takes effect

July 23, 2007

Washington Post: Minimum wage rises 70 cents to $5.85 an hour today, the first increase in a decade.

The increase ends the longest span without a federal minimum wage increase since it was enacted in 1938. The previous increase came in September 1997, when a bill signed by President Bill Clinton raised the minimum 40 cents, to $5.15 an hour.