Minimum Wage Debate

The minimum wage was first established in the United States as an institution in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. It was a $0.25 an hour wage, which would equal approximately $4.22 in today’s dollars (Cipriano). The FLSA also introduced a 44-hour per week maximum limit, guaranteed time-and-a-half for overtime labor, and prohibited most child labor (29 USC Chapter 8). Because of its unprecedented protections of the working class, the Fair Labor Standards Act was described by President Roosevelt as one of the most important pieces of New Deal legislation (Samuel 32). Roosevelt was a proponent of the legislation because instituting fairer labor laws such as, a minimum wage, were very much in line with his well-known progressive political philosophies. The federal minimum wage has been increased 29 times in accordance with various laws since 1938 and is currently $7.25 an hour. One of the most significant recent historical developments in minimum wage

1010 is how many American employees are making the minimum wage today. This is a very important facet of the debate because this researcher would strongly suggest that the research is slightly misleading. Thought it is important to note how many employees in the US are making the federal minimum wage today, that is not the question that should be considered when trying to determine how many people passing H.R. 1010 would help. The much better question to consider is how many employees in America make less than $10.10 an hour. The reason for this is that though a relatively low number of Americans are earning the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour: approximately 4.4% of American Employees (U.S. Minimum Wage History), a very historically high number of Americans are working jobs that pay them less than $10.10 an hour, more than 25 million Americans (Casselman), (compared to just over 6 million that make the federal minimum wage of