The first federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), itself part of Roosevelt’s larger New Deal package of measures to battle the Depression. The first federal minimum wage was set at $0.25 per hour. The federal minimum wage has been increased by Congress 22 times, most recently in 2009 from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. Most states plus D.C. have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage, though several states do not have minimum wage laws (which means workers in those states default to the federal minimum wage). [7][85][186]
In 1890 the annual wages of the average American were $380, well below the poverty line of $500 per year. Progressivism, a social and political reform movement, emerged at this time with the aim of improving American working conditions and wages. Following the example of Australia and New Zealand, which enacted the world’s first minimum wage laws in the 1890s, the Progressives introduced the idea of a U.S minimum wage, arguing that it should be high enough to support an average employee’s needs. [95][96] [97][98]
While men generally earned higher wages, enjoyed freedom of contract, and could join and rely on the protection of unions, women and minors were not afforded such luxuries. Barred from joining unions and prevented from the free negotiation of contracts, they suffered from low wages and poor working conditions, which...
HARRISBURG, PA — The plaintiffs’ bar is working overtime to convince the Pennsylvania General Assembly to pass a state False Claims Act (FCA), arguing that it will raise revenue to help close the ...