If you work for minimum wage in Montana, I'm sorry.   That's tough.  But, I do have some good news for you.  Minimum wage in Montana is going up in January.  Although it's still not really a living wage, it is more money.

Minimum Wage Goes Up January 1, 2024 In Montana

In 2023, the minimum wage in Montana is $9.95.  As of January 1, 2023, The minimum wage will go up to $10.30 an hour.  That only comes out to about $14 a week. I'm so sorry.  But, that's over $50 a month more to work with.

Make 2024 YOUR YEAR. Check Out These Great Falls Jobs That Pay $20-$37 An Hour With No Degree

Minimum Wage Goes Back To 1938

If you think about it, that's not a very long time at all.  From the Department of Labor, back in October of 1938, America's first minimum wage was set at 25 cents an hour.  You read that right.  25 cents an hour.

To put that into perspective, according to Newsweek, in 1938, the average cost of a new home was $3,900 (You can't even get a good used car for that money now.) a new car ran around $860, a movie ticket was a quarter and gas was around a dime a gallon.  Newsweek says that the average income per home was $1,731 a year, or around $180 a month, or over 4 times the federal minimum wage in 1938.

How Does The First Minimum Wage Compare To Now?

Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.  In 2023, the average cost of a new home is $430,300, a new vehicle averages $47,936, a movie ticket averages $10.53 and an average price for a gallon of regular in Montana is at $3.27.  The average yearly wage in America is $59,428, or $45,508 or just over 4 times the average yearly wage of the American stuck in a minimum wage job.

It's A Good News But Is It? Situation

Until America puts a living wage in place, not much is going to change for folks that are classified as the working poor.  A nearly $50 a month raise is mostly paid in taxes.  While that $10-$20 that might be left does come in handy, give me a break.

Busting their humps having 2 or 3 jobs just to get CLOSE to a living wage is still the norm and the greedy one percenters setting these wages like it this way.  It's so much easier to control you and make you a slave of sorts if you're always tired, always hungry and always worried about making ends meet.  And if I hear that "It's all my business can afford to pay" one more time I'm just going to explode. Then you, dear business owner hopeful, need a better business plan before you get a loan.  Expecting people to struggle so you can prosper is not ok.

It comes out to you don't make enough to live indoors AND eat and drive, there's always a real choice to be made. Not a choice like "Do we make a home made pizza or do Pizza Hut?"  It's a choice of "Do we get groceries or pay the electric bill?  We can't afford both."

How can this "American Dream" be ok with any of us?