In 1968, the U.S. federal minimum wage was $1.60 per hour. In 1976, the minimum wage was $2.30 per hour. Assume the minimum wage grows according to an exponential model where n represents the time in years after 1960.
Find an explicit formula for the minimum wage.
What does the model predict for the minimum wage in 1996?
If the minimum wage was $5.15 in 1996, is this above, below or equal to what the model predicts?
The federal minimum wage in 2020 was $7.25 per hour. Using this fact and the data from 1968, find a better exponential growth model for the minimum wage.
The values for the minimum wage in this problem are not adjusted for inflation. The purchasing power of $100 in 1968 equals $769.26 today. The average annual inflation rate has been 3.85%. How much would the minimum wage have to be today in order to have the same purchasing power as $5.15 did in 1968?