Revising the minimum wage for the 1990s

Abstract

This article examines the federal-wage floor concept of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) in light of the current legislative debate to increase the minimum wage. The arguments of proponents and opponents of the initial minimum wage law and its periodic increases have remained fairly constant over the past fifty years. The opponents' concerns about potential loss of jobs, negative impact upon businesses, and the economy and the questionable efficiency of the wage floor in reaching the neediest workers to eliminate poverty remain the most prevalent reasons cited. The harmful impact of a minimum wage increase on the competitiveness of U.S. business in the international sphere has emerged as the foremost issue of opponents in this decade.
Various groups affected by the pending legislation, i.e., women, youths, minorities and undocumented workers will be discussed, as well as the status of state minimum wage laws in the United States and the trends in some other countries away from government intervention in wage setting both through the collective bargaining process and via direct legislative enactment. Recent societal trends in the United States such as the increase in dual-earner families, and the decline in union membership resulting in less powerful advocacy for many economically disenfranchised workers who remain subject to the inequities inherent in the marketplace will be related to the controversy surrounding the minimum wage.