[jimjamuser]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

You are absolutely positively completely and entirely incorrect. Minimum wage originated to provide a living wage for sweatshop workers, who often would work 60-70 hours a week, sometimes not getting paid at all, and always not getting paid enough to provide food for their families. There was also no overtime pay, then. No breaks, and if you had to go to the bathroom too many times during your shift, they would quickly replace you with someone else who was begging for work.

Minimum wage was seen, in part, a response to the labor movement and unions forming all over the country. Eventually the federal government imposed a few more rules, and increased the minimum wage during the Great Depression.

Roosevelt implemented the first attempt at establishing a minimum wage as part of this New Deal in 1933. It took a Supreme Court decision to even determine that Congress had the power to regulate employment conditions. Until then, employers could abuse employees and their work loads however they wanted, and no one could do anything about it.

Minimum wages in 1938 only applied to certain circumstances, and it was expanded in the 1960's. By 1990, minimum wage had increased from 25 cents in 1938 to $3.80. So it took 52 YEARS to get from a quarter, to just under $4/hour.

At that point, inflation had already exceeded the buying power of minimum wage.

It took from 1990 til 2009 - another 19 years, to get to the $7.25 that it has been for the past 11 years. There are also federal regulations with regards to tipped employees, minors, and agricultural workers, so that is already covered by federal law.

Meanwhile, the cost of living and inflation has continued to rise, because (contrary to popular belief) the economy is NOT doing well at all (if it was, all those businesses would've been able to stand by during the worst of the Pandemic shut-downs and re-opened without effort).

Some states have made attempts to catch up with inflation - some have not. Florida is one of the latter. They're not even the worst offenders. But they're pretty bad. This is their opportunity to catch up with most of the rest of the country, and give people a reason to stick around EVEN in traditional low-wage jobs. It also is a good incentive to attract people looking for better careers, who know they have to start at the bottom. Why should they accept $8.56/hour as an entry-level anything, anywhere in the state of Florida, which is culturally backward, educationally sub-par, with hurricane threats in every major hub of civilization on a semi-regular basis every single year - when they can share a flat just outside Boston, or the outskirts of New York City, or the beltway around Charleston - for the same costs of living. with excellent public transportation systems (thus eliminating the need for a car), at much higher wages?

Answer: there's nothing stopping them from doing that now. And that is exactly why Florida is great for retired people - not so great for people just starting out in life and wanting to enter the job market and work their way up. People don't really move to Florida for the income opportunities, unless they're transferring from a place they've already proven themselves.

People move OUT of Florida after graduating college, to find productive and good-paying jobs in their fields, because they know they won't get bubkes here.

WOW! ( I was told NOT to capitalize, but I could not help myself - the DEVIL made me do it). A VERY impressive History lesson. Plus seeing both the US and Florida in a realistic way. Very WOW!