1938
Since 1938, the minimum wage has been raised more than twenty times, in administrations of both parties. But its purchasing power has meant different things depending on the year. When adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage hit its peak in 1968 at $12.30 an hour in today’s dollars.

What President instituted minimum wage?

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
The federal minimum wage was signed into law by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, at the height of the Great Depression. Its stated purpose was to keep America’s workers out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power in order to stimulate the economy.

When was the national minimum wage first established?

It was first introduced in the United States with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). Passed under President Roosevelt, this act called for the first national minimum wage of 25 cents an hour.

What was the minimum wage in the United States in 1938?

In the United States, the minimum wage promulgated by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the minimum wage in the United States would have been $18.28 in 2013 if the minimum wage had kept pace with labor productivity.

Is there a minimum wage in the United States?

The minimum wage is a cornerstone of the United States’ labor system, and has been a cutting-edge labor law topic among employers and workers alike for decades. However, the United States hasn’t always had a minimum wage.

What was the minimum wage during the Great Depression?

The Fair Labor Standards Act set the first U.S. minimum wage in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed it as part of the New Deal to protect workers during the Great Depression. The Depression had caused wages for many to drop to pennies a day. Roosevelt set the minimum wage at $0.25/hour.