From the U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division:

….Under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the federal minimum wage for covered nonexempt employees is $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009….

….A minimum wage of $4.25 per hour applies to young workers under the age of 20 during their first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment with an employer, as long as their work does not displace other workers….

….The minimum wage law (the FLSA) applies to employees of enterprises that have annual gross volume of sales or business done of at least $500,000. It also applies to employees of smaller firms if the employees are engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for commerce, such as employees who work in transportation or communications or who regularly use the mails or telephones for interstate communications….

At the Missouri Department of Labor & Industrial Relations:

October 21, 2011: The Department announces that the state minimum wage for 2012 will remain at its 2011 rate of $7.25/hr.

Employers engaged in retail or service businesses whose annual gross income is less than $500,000 are not required to pay the state minimum wage rate. Employers not subject to the minimum wage law can pay employees wages of their choosing.

The republican U.S. Senate candidates don’t know:

….John Brunner (r): ….Well, the, the issue of the Federal minimum wage has always been an issue for small businesses. And the smaller the business the more difficult, uh, problem that you have….

Announcer: Okay, do, do you know what the minimum wage is?

John Brunner (r): No, sir.

Announcer: Okay, how ’bout you, Sarah Steelman?

Sarah Steelman: Uh, seven dollars and fifty cents an hour.

Announcer: Are, are you in favor of increasing it or decreasing it?

Sarah Steelman: I, I, uh….

Announcer: Or, are you, are you in favor of increasing it.

Sarah Steelman (r): No, I’m not in favor of increasing it at this time….

….Todd Akin (r): …In this particular case the minimum wage can be destructive because if you’ve got a kid that’s never held a job before, wants to just simply sweep a floor and learn how to be, uh, an employee and maybe they’re worth six dollars an hour and yet the government says you have to pay seven something, you don’t hire ’em. And that’s a big mistake….      

….Announcer: Do you know what the minimum wage is?

Todd Akin (r): Uh, my guess is it’s somewhere in that six or seven, but I don’t know the exact number now….

Apparently Sarah Steelman (r) thinks it’s too low. And Todd Akin (r), a member of Congress, is clueless about exemptions and doesn’t know the minimum wage.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) should be thanking the gods of politics. Hourly.