Tennessee

no matter what year we're talking about, do not themselves work for minimum wage. And most of them never have.

My very first job out of high school in 1965 was as a nurse's aide, a sub-minimum wage job. Minimum was then $1.25/hour. I was making $1.10/hour. At least I was still living at home and saving most of that money to pay for college. Unlike some of the women I worked with who were the main wage earner in their family.

My next job was a regular minimum wage job, and things got vastly better for me when in 1967 it went to $1.40/hour, and a year later to $1.60/hour. I could afford to move out on my own. It was still a very tight budget, but I could manage.

After that I had jobs that paid better than minimum. So yeah, when I hear people think that the minimum wage doesn't need to be raise, I'm enraged. Just try living on it for six months.