The Minimum Wage Case Study
The minimum wage was established in 1938 to guarantee that any person working a non-farm job receive a salary that she or he can live on. The hourly salary required in the law, while it has gone up, is not enough to support a single person and nowhere near enough for a family. Many states establish their own minimum wage higher than the federal amount. Washington State’s minimum wage is more than two dollars an hour higher. Some cities have even higher minimum wages.
The Minimum Wage was first instituted by the Federal government in 1938. It took years of political maneuvering by the Roosevelt administration to get the law passed. This was during the great depression when many people had lost their jobs. The wage was set at 25 cents. It did not reach a dollar for nearly 20 years and two dollars for nearly another 20. The last time it was raised was in 2009. It was set at $7.25.
Over the last three years there have been two social/economic movements to increase the minimum wage:
1. In the Seattle area there has been a strong push to create a $15.00 minimum wage. A community south of Seattle, Tukwila, passed an initiative requiring this and the Seattle City Council, led by a councilperson named Kshama Sawant, passed a law that gradually moves the city’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. This movement toward $15.00 an hour, considered a “living” wage, is spreading to other communities. Other cities, such as San Francisco, have passed similar laws.
2. Fast food workers across the nation have been doing one day walkouts and demonstrations demanding higher wages. Fast food workers are typically not part of unions, so this is unusual. These walkouts, demonstrations or strikes are usually union sponsored.
Find out
1. Data –What hourly wage would allow a person to support themselves today? How much for a person and a child? How many people make minimum wage now? What is the average salary for a fast food worker? Who are fast food workers now; young people, retired people, single parents?
2. Experiences – find out what the experiences of people who are making minimum wage, of people who are fighting for the $15 minimum wage and of fast food workers who are walking out and demonstrating.
3. Find out the impact of the increased minimum wage in Seattle, Tukwila and other places. What is the expected impact in Seattle when it reaches $15.00? Why do some businesses have a higher minimum wage than others? Why did the City Council decide to institute this over a number of years, not immediately? What would be the impact or problems of a national $15 minimum wage? How would it impact fast food workers and others? Do people who make tips have the same minimum wage as those that don’t?
4. Find out the perspectives (opinions) of different lawmakers involved in writing these laws. Who is for it and why? Who is against it and why? What do they believe about minimum wage and why? What are the perspectives of business people?
5. Find public opinion information – find surveys from several sources to show how different groups of people see the minimum wage issue.
6. Is the minimum wage tied to the cost of living in different places? Explain what determines the cost of living and how it varies? Give examples>
7. Find out a bit more about why the minimum wage came to exist. What is the history?
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