Introduction
There is one very important topic in Human Resource that this paper will discuss which is minimum wage. The first thought that comes to my mind when hearing those two words should be the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. The 1938 Act provides for minimum wages, maximum hours, overtime, and child labor protection. The law amended many times, covers most employees (Dessler, 2013). I believe this is a Human Resource topic because it deals with employee compensation. Employee Compensation “includes all forms of pay going to employees and arising from their employment” (Dessler, 2013). Minimum wage is a trending topic within the United States as well as around the world.
History of Minimum Wage
In today’s society a lot of the different countries around the world have established some sort of minimum wage. The first minimum wage law in the United States was established in 1912 in the state of Massachusetts. Several states would follow suit over the next two decades, and, in 1938 at the height of the Great Depression Congress established the first federal minimum wage as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The minimum wage was last increased (to $3.35) in 1981. Since then, average hourly wages have risen by 25 percent, eliminating any momentum for a lower minimum wage for youth but reviving proposals for another increase in the nominal minimum (Brown, 1988).
All US states but 5 have their own minimum wage laws. Five southern states have no minimum wage laws,
The minimum wage is not suitable for society because it is too low and due to this, employees tend to overwork with more than one job, which leads them to not be available for their families enough, and they are unable to make progress with this wage
The United States has a history of changes to the minimum wage law. “Early in the administration of the FLSA (Fair labor Standards Act); it became apparent that application of the statutory minimum wage was likely to produce undesirable effects upon the economies of Puerto Rico and the Virgin islands .In 1949, the minimum wage was raised from 40 cents and hours to 75 cents an hour for all workers. A 1955 amendment increased the minimum wage to $1.00 an hour with no changes in coverage. The minimum wage increased to $2.00 an hour in 1974, and $2.10 in 1975, and $
The minimum wage was established in the United States by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at 25 cents per hour. These laws are broadly supported by the public. Congress enacted these rules to combat “labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and the general well-being of the workers” (Sharp, 2013 p. 71). The purpose and intent of
Minimum wage is an important and hot topic throughout the world, especially America. The minimum wage is the lowest amount of salary that an employer can give to their employees for their work. The federal minimum wage is covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, also known as FLSA. The FLSA covers standards for government, local, and state employees, including overtime pay and record keeping. This protects the rights of the employers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, was the first president to establish the idea of minimum wage in 1938 due to the economic downfall of the Great Depression. (“History of Minimum Wage”) The Great Depression was a huge recession for the economy and for the people. Since FDR applied the minimum wage, the minimum wage keeps increasing over the years. According to Bebusinnessed website, the first year with minimum started at twenty-five cents an hour, which is equal to around four dollars and fifteen cents in USD in present currency (“History of Minimum Wage”). Over time and many presidents later, in 2016, our lowest minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty-five cents. From the numbers presented on this website, the minimum wage seems to be increasing and getting better with time, but in fact, the government is not to kept up with the current “real” dollar amount. Nowadays, parent employees cannot fully support their children. The real question, in our society, should minimum wage be increased or decreased in order to fulfill both the government
The argument for minimum wage has remained remake consistent over the years. Some people are against minimum wage and the other think minimum wage can help you in a certain way. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Unites States federal government passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The law has been amended almost every year to expand coverage of the wage floor and to increase the wage itself. Many of the fifty states have enacted their own minimum wage laws, some of them set even higher than the federal level. Minimum wage jobs don’t only help adults at hard times it help teenagers and college students. I learned that the proponents for minimum wage believe the raw value of one’s labor to a business
Minimum wage has always been a controversial issue. Many politicians use the argument of minimum wage for their own political propaganda. Some may argue minimum wage should be raised, while others believe it will have detrimental effects on our economy if it is raised. Surprising to most people, minimum wage earners make up only a small percent of American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers make up about 2.8% of all workers in America. “The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These are high school and college students” (Sherk 2). But high school and college students are not the entire percentage of minimum wage earners. When minimum
There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the benefits for an increase, then the disadvantages, and in the last paragraph, I will
Raising minimum wages is a contestable issue because it is debated in wide and varied audiences. Minimum wage is near the top of economists’ interest; they are looking for the connection between low wages and poor job markets. Each country sets its own laws and regulations regarding wages. For this reason, it has significant importance to policy makers and workers in each of those respective countries. Social activists have also found interest in the topic due to the fact that those who earn a minimum wage tend to come from poor minority families. Furthermore, the average American should have the strongest interest in the conversation because most citizens have been paid a minimum wage at some point in their life. Due to this fact, the idea of a significant federal minimum wage increase in America is open for debate specifically to rejuvenate the job industry, improve living conditions for citizens, and strengthen the economy as a whole.
On Saturday, June 25, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 121 bills. Among these bills was a landmark law in the United States’ social and economic development—Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) or otherwise known as the Wages and Hours Bill. This new law created a maximum forty-four hour workweek, guaranteed “time-and-a-half” for overtime hours in certain jobs, banned oppressive child labor, and established the nation’s first minimum wage. By definition, a minimum wage is the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement (such as one with a labor union). Throughout the years, the minimum wage has been a central debate topic for the socioeconomic world and now in 2014, the debate has broken through the surface once
In the United States, the minimum wage was passed during the Great Depression in 1938 to protect the buying power of normal workers in a period in which the “unemployment rate was still a very high 19 percent” (Sklar, 2009, p. 1). Since that time, there has been significant debate about the controversial topic of raising the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage law was created to eliminate unfair practices of sweat shops and manufacturing companies during this time period. Thus, the minimum wage is defined as the smallest salary that an employer is legally allowed to pay employees for their work. Since the time of the Great Depression, minimum wage has been utilized to guarantee that employees are paid
The most recent update to the federal minimum wage was in 2009, when it was raised to $7.25 an hour. Note that 29 states have a higher minimum wage than the federal rate.
The minimum wage in the United States has been an ongoing controversy for many years now. The first minimum wage was established in 1938 (Reich, 2015, P. 3). That minimum wage started out at .25 cents an hour; compared to today’s higher wage of a government standard of $7.25 an hour. Many people believe that the minimum wage should be more so that those who live below the poverty level in the United States will decrease, however in many other people’s opinions the minimum wage should be the same. The minimum wage should stay the same at a low $7.25.
One of the most frequently asked questions in our country today, seems to be: “Will I have enough money to live comfortably?” With the ever growing population in America good sustainable jobs are getting harder and harder to find. Many people are settling with low paying, mindless jobs, with no chances of growth, were they are getting paid minimum wage. But, what is minimum wage? Is it a law to help people get more money or it is a law that makes it harder for unskilled workers to find jobs? The real question is; what real effects doesn’t minimum wage have on us? In the mid-20s and 30s factory and mining jobs in America were dreadful places to work at. People working were forced to work long hours for slave wages, never enough to support their families. To help support their families, children very commonly were forced to work, making less than the average America male at the time while doing just as dangerous or more dangerous jobs. On June 25, 1938 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act or the FLSA. When it was first signed it was only meant to cover only one fifth of the jobs in America, the manufacturing, mining, and transportation industries. It set the minimum hourly wage to $0.40 per hour and limited the number of hours’ person can work to 40 hours per week. In addition, it banned the use of child labor in the work place and set the minimum working age to 16 years of age. (Grossman, Jonathan) Today minimum wage has expanded to every job in
For potential employees in the United States, one of the first things people want to know is what how much they are going to be paid. Minimum wage has been and continues be a very important topic for workers. The Fair Labor Standards Act was enacted in 1938 to protect our workers during the Great Depression under Franklin Roosevelt. According to the book, Legal Environment of Business: Online Commerce, Business Ethics, and Global Issues, “the Fair Labor Standards Act establishes a minimum wage and overtime pay requirements for workers (Cheeseman, 2016, p.454).”
In this globalization era, as various countries see growth in their economy, there has also been significant differences in the wages set to employees in different countries. The lowest wages set by the law that are fixed to a particular amount which is also defined to be the price floor below which workers shall not sell their labor, has its own effects. The minimum wage law came into force as a matter of social justice amongst the low-wage workers, also to reduce exploitation and see that workers can afford the standard basic living expenses and necessities, not to increase the unemployment rate, indeed to increase the employment rate.