Updated Minimum Wage Report
Inside Can’t Survive on $7.25: 2026 Update
Wisconsin’s minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 an hour since 2009, even as prices and the cost of living have continued to rise. This updated report examines the impact of raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage to $20 by 2030 and highlights the hundreds of thousands of workers who would benefit from a stronger wage floor. A higher and well-enforced minimum wage can reduce inequality, strengthen communities, and help ensure that workers can thrive.
Check out Can’t Survive on $7.25: 2026 Update
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State of Working Wisconsin 2025
In 2025, we release The State of Working Wisconsin 2025, a report on how working people are faring across the state. The report highlights strengths such as record-high median wages and a robust labor market, while also underscoring challenges including slow job growth, deep inequalities, declining unions, and major disruptions from federal policy.
From Community Benefits, to Collective Bargaining, and Back
Community Benefits Agreements can yield strong results from public investments in private projects like stadiums. Milwaukee's first CBA established labor peace and enabled workers to form MASH. This report showcases how MASH has improved employment and job quality standards for service workers in Milwaukee's Deer District and beyond.
Covering the Bases
Cities across the country routinely make investments in stadiums, such as the Kansas City Royals, despite ample evidence that communities don’t secure promised economic returns. In this paper, we draw on national evidence and experience in Milwaukee to help inform the public discussion in Kansas City.
High Road Strategy Center in the News
WisBusiness: the Podcast with Laura Dresser, High Road Strategy Center
This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with returning guest Laura Dresser, associate director of the High Road Strategy Center at UW-Madison. The conversation is focused on the center’s latest report, “Can’t Survive on $7.25,” which makes the case that Wisconsin’s minimum wage is too low to live on and explores the potential impacts of raising it.
June 25, 2026$20 by 2030? Progressive think tank explores raising Wisconsin’s minimum wage
Wisconsin Public Radio featured our latest Can't Survive on $7.25: 2026 Update report, highlighting how Wisconsin's minimum wage has remained unchanged for 17 years and examining the potential impacts of raising it to $20 an hour by 2030.
June 25, 2026UW think tank report slams state’s ‘paltry’ minimum wage
WisBusiness highlights our latest Can't Survive on $7.25: 2026 Update report, which examines who would benefit from raising Wisconsin's minimum wage to $20 by 2030.
June 17, 2026- More