¨Current minimum wage — $5.15
¨Annual pre-tax salary of a minimum-wage employee working 35 hours a week with no vacation — $9,373
¨Federal poverty guideline for a one-person household — $9,570
¨Number of votes shy of the 60 needed two weeks ago for the US Senate to pass a measure raising the minimum wage to $7.25 — 14
¨Years since Congress has increased the minimum wage — 7.5
¨Annual salary of a US senator — $162,100
¨Days US Senate was in session in 2004 — 133
¨Approximate salary paid to US senators for each day of the 2004 session — $1,219
¨Amount by which a US senator’s salary has increased since 1997 — $28,500
¨Hourly wage of a Creative Loafing intern — $0
Sources: US Senate; Associated Press; US Dept. of Health and Human Services
This article appears in Mar 23-29, 2005.
