In 1933, Roosevelt enacted the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA). The act suspended anti-trust laws so industries could enforce fair-trade resulting in less competition and higher wages. In the beginning of the NRA, Roosevelt promulgated a President’s Re-employment Agreement. Employers signed more than 2.3 million agreements, covering 16.3 million employees. Employers agreed to a 35-40 hour workweek, with a minimum wage of $12 to $15 per week. In turn, businesses who signed the agreement displayed a blue eagle over the motto “We do our part.” Therefore, Patriotic Americans would buy only from “Blue Eagle”. As a result, the economy would recover from the “Great Depression”. Unfortunately, May 27, 1935, the Supreme Court disarmed the NRA. The nine justices agreed that the act was unconstitutional delegation of government power to private interests. However, On June 23, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standard Act, to become effective on October 24, 1938. As a result, workers would earn a minimum wage of 25 cents per hour, and the maximum workweek of 44 hours. However, this act has changed several times in the past to make adjustments for inflation. Once again, Americans are suffering; the economy is in a recession, President Barack Obama has called for an increase in the minimum wage. Obama stated, “This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families; it could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank; rent or eviction; scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets.” In 1938, America was in a great depression, as a result, Roosevelt’s plan to increase minimum wage helped pull Ame... ... middle of paper ... ...eseret News Published: Tuesday, Feb. 19 2013 Meyerson, Harold. "How to raise Americans' wages." The American Prospect (2014): 25.2. WEB. "Raising minimum wage hurts those it claims to help; The poor and unskilled get laid off to offset costs." Washington Times [Washington, DC] 18 Mar. 2013: B03. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 May 2014. Sherk, James. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "A Solution That Won't Work." FrontPage Magazine. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 May 2014 Sklar, Holly. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Roman Espejo. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2012. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010." LetJusticeRoll.org. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 May 2014.
Depression; because Roosevelt felt that an action need to be taken about the long hours and starvation wages.Before the FLSA , “it was common for workers to experience cruel work environments.” (Dugger 1) President Roosevelt was handed a message by a girl stating “We have been working in a sewing factory... and up to a few months ago we were getting our minimum pay of $11 a week.... Today the 200 of us girls have been cut down to $4 and $5 and $6 a week.” (Dugger 2). Consequently, Roosevelt worked to pass a legislation that would protect Americas laborers.
During the summer of 1933, job recovery was still a major part of ending the Great Depression. The National Industrial Recovery Act (NIRA) and the National Recovery Administration (NRA) was the largest piece of industrial recovery and regulations during the time period. FDR stated, “Its object is to put industry and business workers into employment and increase their purchasing power through increased wages.” It did abundantly more than that. It also ended child labor, sweat shops, and lowered weekly wages in the mining industry. It set a “code of fair competition” in place that fixed prices, wages and established production quotas. In March 1934, the NRA created a set of industrial codes for all industries. In total there were more than 500 codes. They were created on an industry-by-industry basis governing wages, prices and business practices.
"America's Great Depression and Roosevelt's New Deal."DPLA. Digital Public Library of America. Web. 20 Nov 2013. .
During the 1920’s, America was a prosperous nation going through the “Big Boom” and loving every second of it. However, this fortune didn’t last long, because with the 1930’s came a period of serious economic recession, a period called the Great Depression. By 1933, a quarter of the nation’s workers (about 40 million) were without jobs. The weekly income rate dropped from $24.76 per week in 1929 to $16.65 per week in 1933 (McElvaine, 8). After President Hoover failed to rectify the recession situation, Franklin D. Roosevelt began his term with the hopeful New Deal. In two installments, Roosevelt hoped to relieve short term suffering with the first, and redistribution of money amongst the poor with the second. Throughout these years of the depression, many Americans spoke their minds through pen and paper. Many criticized Hoover’s policies of the early Depression and praised the Roosevelts’ efforts. Each opinion about the causes and solutions of the Great Depression are based upon economic, racial and social standing in America.
"Unit 11 The 1930s: The Great Depression." Welcome. New Jersey State Library, 12 Jan. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .
The FLSA began on a Saturday, June 25, 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed 121 bills, one of them being the landmark law in the Nation's social and economic development the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 ( Grossman, 1978). This law did not come easy, wage-hour and child-labor laws had made their way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1918 in Hammer v. Dagenhart in which the Court by one vote held unconstitutional a Federal child-labor law. Similarly in Adkins v. Children's Hospital in 1923, the Court voided the District of Columbia law that set minimum wages for women, during the 1930's the Court's action on other social legislation was even more devastating (Grossman, 1978). Then came the New Deal Promise in 1933, President Roosevelt's idea of suspending antitrust laws so that industries could enforce fair-traded codes resulting in less competition and higher wages; It was known as the National Industrial Recovery Act (NRA) ( Grossman, 1978). The President set out "to raise wages, create employment, and thus restore business," the Nation's employers signed more than 2.
“Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 impassioned speech calling on Congress to help the one-third of Americans who were “ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished” heralded in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and with it a national minimum wage. Echoes of that speech are still heard today. Senator Edward Kennedy (1989: S14707), in his criticism of the most recent increases in the minimum wage, declared:
Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. From “Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010.” Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”
...the national minimum wage have not been followed by increased employment. Looking even closer, Congress raised the minimum wage in 2009 by just over ten percent. This was followed by the loss of over 600,000 jobs for people age sixteen thru nineteen. The rates of low employment for this age group remain extremely low. Similar statistics were recorded for all age groups as relatively unskilled workers of all age groups receive the minimum wage. An argument in favor of minimum wage is that it is a stimulus that introduces new income and spending into the market. But was there more income to spend in 2009 when nearly 600,000 jobs were lost? Common sense says that every dollar a minimum wage worker receives must have come out of somebody else’s pocket, either small business owners or their customers. The money for a higher minimum wage does not come from thin air.
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
Throughout the decade, a continuous firing debate still remains, whether to raise the minimum wage or keep as it is. People believe that raising the minimum wage can hurt the economy. More will lose jobs than gain. Though all are true, the amount of poverty shown throughout the decades are jaw dropping. That is in fact one of the leading factors. As there is yin and yang, the demand for a higher minimum wage is no coincidence or selfishness as others perceive as is. The poverty shown throughout the decade is deadly prominent. Minimum wage should be raised as people are not gaining enough money compared to the past, despite with more education, too many low quality jobs, “in active” unemployment are outcasted from the statistics, and finding jobs is more difficult than it was decades ago.
Gitterman, Daniel P. “Remaking A Bargain: The Political Logic Of The Minimum Wage In The United States.” Poverty And Public Policy 5.1 (2013): 3-36. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
"Bill Gates: Raising Minimum Wage Can Destroy Jobs." The Foundry Conservative Policy News from The Heritage Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Mar. 2014.
"Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full time should ever have to raise a family in poverty... so join the rest of the country. say yes. give America a raise" (President Barack Obama 2014). This quote depicts that not a single human being that works hard at their job should ever have to be poor. This idea among many was part of President Barack Obama's state of the Union Address for 2014, promoting while seeking, a year of change to all American citizens. As a citizen of the United States, one knows the economic hardships and unemployment rates increasing. There needs to be a stop to these inclines, especially towards the poor and those becoming more educated with college. This is why I, for one agree with President Obama on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Raising the minimum wage slightly from $8.25 to $10.10 (only $1.85 increase) will have a huge impact on Americans today and even future Americans. Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will aid millions researchers say, through the economic values of food prices, small businesses unemployment rates, college students coping with college debt, and the poor living in a state of poverty.