Proposals to raise the federal minimum wage have stalled out repeatedly in Congress over the past decade. Putting minimum wage policy directly in the hands of lawmakers is just one of several ways in which the U.S. approach stands apart from most other countries, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of policies in 197 countries and self-governing territories.

Of the 173 countries with some sort of generally applicable minimum-wage system, only 17 countries set their rates by statute, which as U.S. experience demonstrates can make them more difficult to update. Also, the U.S. is one of only seven countries where states, provinces, cities, or other subnational governments have concurrent authority to set their own minimum wages.