The chart shows the minimum wages for the United States split into top 4 zones i.e. states split into PST, MST, CST & EST time-zone along with the Federal government recommendation for the minimum wage. The data shows the average wage that is set by the states from 1968 to 2019. As you can see the states that are in the PST zone tend to favor more wages since 1968. On the other hand states in the Central time zone tend favor lower minimum wages, in-fact the wages are even lower than the recommended wages set by the Federal government. The Eastern & Mountain zones are catching up in the last few years but nowhere closer to the Pacific zones. I've explicitly excluded other states zone like Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands.
The chart shows an interesting trend for the Federal gov and based on the trend we can see the Federal gov set high standards of minimum wages from the late 70s to the early 90s which none of the states in US have adapted to it. In the early 90s that is when states in the PST zone have consistently increased their rates higher than the federal government. Another interesting point to note based on the chart is the Federal gov has not increased its minimum rate from $7.25 since 2010 which is very odd considering the costs of living has significantly increased. The worst part is that states in the Central zone are still playing catch up to the rates suggested by the Federal gov.
Ending this research by pointing out the highest minimum wage zone(PST), the lowest minimum wage zone(CST) and the wage set by Federal government.
