Holy moly, show me the money

The federal minimum wage increased to $6.55 per hour
on July 24, 2008. At this rate, a person working a 40-hour
week for all 52 weeks in a year would earn $13,624. According
to the Department of Health and Human Services,
the 2008 poverty line for a single parent with one child was
$14,000, and for a single parent with two children, it was
$17,600. A single parent trying to support a family on a full
time minimum-wage job would qualify as poor.
The federal minimum wage was constant for a decade,
from 1997 to 2007, at the rate of $5.15 per hour. Wages
increased in 2007 to $5.85, then again to the current rate
of $6.55 earlier this year. The minimum wage will increase

to $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009.