Minimum Wage in WA Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Minimum Wage in WA - Coursework Example The Supreme Court in the U.S. ruled out various attempts brought forth by labor unions in the view of establishing a minimum wage that would be mandatory for all employers. The court insisted that such a move would restrict the right of the worker to create a price value for his or her own labor. As a result, the workers continued to face exploitation from their employees throughout the 1930s when the Great Depression was at its peak. The employee wages dropped lower during the same period in response to the increased demand for jobs (Rayback, 2008). Due to the increase in national poverty, President Roosevelt vowed to offer protection to the workers through the constitution during his 1936 campaigns (Rayback, 2008). The president kept his promise when he went into office by assenting to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and signing it into law in 1938. The minimum wage had been instituted by the congress in 1938 as a component of the Fair Labour Standards Act (FLSA) with the minimum wage set at 25 cents for every hour. The last change in the national minimum wage occurred in 2007, where it was increased in steps by the congress from $5.15 to $7.25 per hour in 2009. However, different states, including Washington, have established their own local systems of minimum wage, which is higher than the rate established by the federal government. Case in point, Washington offers the highest rate of the minimum wage at $9.47 per hour. The table below shows the changes in the Washington State minimum wage since 1961 (Washington Sate Dep artment of Labor and Industries, 2015). In terms of inflation based buying power, there have been considerable variations in the minimum wage for the last over sixty years. In 2013, it averaged at $6.60 per hour in terms of purchasing power in dollars (Sherk, 2013). Nevertheless, it had ranged between $3.09 per hour as exhibited in