Minimum Wage: A legally enforced minimum amount that any worker can expect to be paid per hour.
The idea of a minimum wage was first campaiged for in the 1890s by a group of sweatshop workers (known as sweaters) who protested bitterly at the conditions in their Australian workplace. It was in New Zealand though that a law recognizing workers rights was first introduced in 1894 and only in 1896 did Australia attend to the matter by establishing wage boards. The United Kingdom setup its own, similar system in 1909 and boards were adopted by Massachusetts in 1912. However it was not untill 1938 that the United States established the Fair Labor Standards Act for all workers.
Setting the lowest legal hourly wage payable to any worker served two purposes: it reduced the chances of civil unrest and it also worked against poverty and created tolerable living conditions for workersin low-paid jobs. In that sence, the legislation was enacted in tacit recognition of the universality of the human right to fair treatment at work. The actual minimum rate is decided either through collective bargaining or by a judgement from government. It varies according to geography, economic conditions and the workforce's degree of political power among other factors.
Globalization has somewhat undermined the political impact of minimum -wage legislation because purely profit-driven industries now move factories from strict to less strict jurisdictions. Opinion has polarized between those who advocate a fair wage as as a minimum standerd and those who see intervention in the market place as detrimental meddling. Detractors claim that a minimum wage drives up costs and threatens business closures, which in turn cause unemployment rates to rise. Proponents hold that, by protecting a minimum standard of living, the legislation enables those who want to improve their situations to do so. This springs workers from the poverty trap and leads toward the creation of a better educated workforce.
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