Minimum Wage Raise

Report Outline
Outlook for Revision of Fair Labor Standards Act
Wage Protection Under Federal and State Laws
Factors in Fixing Statutory Wage Floors
Economic Effects of a Minimum Wage Raise

Outlook for Revision of Fair Labor Standards Act

Congress expects shortly to receive an administration request that the minimum wage rate of the Fair Labor Standards Act be raised at the 1954 session and that coverage of the act be extended to large numbers of workers now outside its protection. The legal minimum wage was last raised in 1949 to the present rate of 75¢ an hour. Action of Congress on the administration request will depend in part on the degree of liberalization recommended and in part on the trend of business activity during the next few months.

Most members of Congress from industrial states want to “do something for Labor” before the November elections and a boost in the minimum wage rate might be an acceptable substitute for revision of the Taft-Hartley Act. Employers in industries which have already suffered some slackening of activity will argue that they are in no position to assume additional labor costs. Trade union representatives will argue that in a period of business recession working men and women need the protection against wage cuts that would be afforded by an increase in the minimum wage.

Call for Higher Wage Floor and Broader Coverage

Secretary of Labor Mitchell declared himself strongly in favor of a higher wage floor and more comprehensive coverage of the nation's labor force shortly after his appointment last October. Addressing the C.I.O. convention at Cleveland, Nov. 18, 1953, he said: