Minimum wage

The minimum wage is the minimum rate a worker can legally be paid (usually per hour) as set by statute. It is different from the lowest wage determined by the forces of supply and demand in a free market. In most cases, the minimum wage acts as a price floor. Each country sets its own minimum wage laws and regulations, and many countries have no minimum wage.

History

The first moves to legislate wages did not set minimum wages, rather the laws created arbitration boards and councils to resolve labour conflicts before the recourse to strikes.

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• In 1894, New Zealand established such arbitration boards with the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act
• In 1896, the state of Victoria, Australia established similar boards
• In 1909, the Trade Boards Act was enacted in the United Kingdom, establishing four such boards
• In 1912, the state of Massachusetts, United States, set minimum wages for women and children

In the United States and other countries, minimum wage laws were a common demand of labor unions

Related Topics:
United States - Labor unions

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