The Minimum Wage Debate

The federal minimum wage has long been a topic of controversy in U.S. domestic policy. In fact it’s been in contention since its inception. The U.S. followed the models lead by Australia and New Zealand, which established the world’s first minimum wage policies in the 1890s. The Progressive faction here at home introduced the idea of a U.S. minimum wage; their argument was that a wage should be sufficient enough to support a common worker's necessities. This resonates just as arguments used today, and proponents even go further in prospects of increasing the Federal minimum wage. Advocates for raising the U.S. Federal minimum wage such as presidential candidate in the 2016 election Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ran on a platform that coincided

Later came the National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA), which was approved by Congress and authorized by President Roosevelt in 1933; this was the first legislation that attempted to introduce a federal minimum wage. However, this wouldn’t last long as the (NIRA) was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1935 it was judged as an "unconstitutional delegation of legislative power." In spring of 1937 the constitutionality of state minimum wage laws was again to be deliberated in the U.S. Supreme Court. The Supreme Court would over turn its previous anti-minimum wage ruling in favor of a federal minimum wage. This was an immense accomplishment for the progressives of this

This is especially true due to the devaluation of the U.S. dollar in the last couple decades, which has left people in far worse financial distress then previous generations have had to contend with. Advocates claim that an increase in the federal minimum wage will actually boost job creation and growth in the U.S. economy by providing the common people with more spending allowances thus stimulating the economy. Supports further contend that the deteriorating value of the minimum wage is one of the main sources of income inequality between low and mid range employees; and that a majority of Americans, incorporating a thin margin of self proclaimed conservatives actually are in support of increasing the minimum