Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
The economic theory of "Optimum Currency Area" (OCA) might explain why.
The US is commonly thought of as an OCA, but $1 goes a lot further in Mississippi than it does in Hawaii.
The federal minimum wage is currently at a standstill.
President Joe Biden campaigned on raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15. But the $15 proposal was struck from his stimulus plan for not meeting the rules of budget reconciliation. Progressives have long been campaigning to hike the minimum wage, but have met with opposition from Republicans as well as more moderate Democrats. It hasn't been raised since the last time Biden was in office, as vice president in 2009.