Background

Minimum Wage in America - BACKGROUND 

The current minimum wage, in 2013, is $7.25. This has remained the same since July of 2009, even though the cumulative rate of inflation has risen 9.1%. An item that cost $15 in 2009 is now $16.37 in 2013. Although this might not seem significant to many Americans, it could be more challenging for the 2.9% of Americans that currently make minimum wage.

Minimum wage has always been a topic widely debated since it was created in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The FLSA was created by Hugo Black, a United States Democratic Senator from Alabama, and supported by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Black’s final proposal, passed in 1938, consisted of a federal minimum wage, a maximum of 44-hours over a seven-day workweek and guaranteed “time-and-a-half” for overtime in certain jobs. It also eliminated oppressive child labor by prohibiting the employment of minors in dangerous jobs. He started drafting the proposal in 1932, but his idea to limit the amount of hours an employee can work to thirty per week created much resistance in Congress, causing Black to have to revise the act many more times before presenting it in front of Congress again. The Act finally passed, creating a minimum wage across the United States of 0.25 cents per hour. Since its introduction, the minimum wage has flexibility to rise and decrease according to the economy. 

In 2013, approximately 2.9% of Americans currently make minimum wage. Half are workers between the ages of 16 and 24, and the other half are individuals 25 and older. The percentage of workers who are over the age of 25 are those who are demanding a raise in the minimum wage. Making just $7.25 an hour is not a wage that would be able to support a person living on their own, let alone a family of 2, 3, or even 4. The 97.1% of workers who make more than minimum wage may not be directly impacted by it, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have viewpoints on it. In a recent poll concluded in March of 2013 by Gallup Politics, 71% of Americans who earn a wage higher than minimum wage support raising it. Most people believe that minimum wage should be adjusted with the rising inflation.