MINIMUM WAGE IN AMERICA

The real minimum wage is zero. Thomas S.

T
he minimum wage is an agreement of the local, state and federal laws where the
workers must be paid the highest minimum wage. On July 2016, there were laws
passed by the federal government that the mandated minimum wage would be
$7.25 per hour. It was a policy change and therefore took some time to be absorbed.
By October 2016, 29 states had their minimum wage higher than the imposed federal wage.
Between the years 2014 and 2015, nine states followed automatic adjustments to increase
their minimum wages whereas there were some 11 more states that the increase was
propelled by legislative action (Card et al., p24).

Back in 1968, the minimum wage was at about $10.00 per hour in real terms using the
dollars from inflation adjustment in 2014 (Card et al., p14). As at January 2017, the two
states, Washington and Massachusetts had the highest minimum wage of $11.00. All the
same, New York is expected to have the highest minimum wage of $15.00 per hour in the
next one year. The $15.00 minimum wage rate per hour has raised a bone of contention
between the blacks, Hispanics and the whites. The blacks and the Hispanics are for the rate
whereas the whites are strongly in opposition of the same.

There are fears of raising the minimum wage due to factors such as inflation that may arise
due to excess money in circulation. That is why some politicians tried to come up with a bill
that linked the consumer price index to the minimum wage. This would mean that wages
would be increased each year following the augment in consumer price index. Some states
have already taken up the task and linked the minimum wage to the consumer price index
(Card et al., p7).

In the minimum wage, some labors are given exemptions. Some labors pay a minimum
wage of even $2.13 per hour, but there are tips that when added to the wage must add up
to the minimum wage per hour. There is also an exemption of the laborers who are below 20
years of age where they are given a slightly lower minimum wage rate of $4.25 per hour,
but it is for the debut 90 days on the job.
In 2014, there was a bill in the Senate that was meant to amend the FLSA (1938) where the
minimum wage was to be increased to $10.10 an hour over a two-year period. The bill had
support from the Democrats and also the president but was strongly opposed by the
Republicans. There was later a severe support in votes by the people living in the Republican
states where they advocated for the increase in the minimum wage above the normal $7.25
an hour. The results of the voting provided verification that the increase in the minimum
wage rate had support from all across the divide (Mishel et al., p57).

There have been growing protests since 2012

where there was the formation of a movement
they named fight for $15 which arose
from strikes by fast food workers.
Connecticut was the first state in 2014
to pass legislation to raise their wage
rate above $10 where they raised their
rate to $10.10 from $8.70 by the year
2017. This move pushed other states to
pass legislations that had set their
minimum wage rates over and above
$10 an hour. New York and California
came up with legislations that would
abruptly raise their wage rates to $15 in the
year 2016.
 References

Card, David, and Alan B. Krueger. Myth and measurement: the new economics of the minimum

wage. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Mishel, Lawrence, et al. The state of working America. Cornell University Press, 2012.