The minimum wage was conceived as a way to help bolster wageworkers and decrease class stratification. It was first introduced in the United States with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). Passed under President Roosevelt, this act called for the first national minimum wage of 25 cents an hour.

The purpose of minimum wages is to protect workers against unduly low pay. They help ensure a just and equitable share of the fruits of progress to all, and a minimum living wage to all who are employed and in need of such protection.

— President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933, Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act. In the United States, statutory minimum wages were first introduced nationally in 1938 by president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

the Fair Labor Standards Act

Unlike almost all other federal benchmarks, the minimum wage is not updated for inflation. The minimum wage reached its (inflation-adjusted) historic high in 1968, when it was raised from $1.40 to $1.60 per hour.

State laws As of January 2018, there were 29 states with a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. As of January 1, 2021, California has the highest state minimum wage at $14.00 per hour, which will be raised to $15 per hour starting January 1, 2022.

$7.25 per hour

$5.05

Federal Minimum Wage History

History of California Minimum Wage

Schedule for California Minimum Wage rate 2017-2023.

2021 California State Minimum Wage Law On January 1, 2021, California’s statewide minimum wage will increase to $14 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees, and $13 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees.

In 1983, the federal government set the minimum wage at $3.35, but most of the states in the country were paying their workers less.

Barack Obama says the minimum wage was higher during Ronald Reagan’s first State of the Union

$4.25

1 in California as a number of business and labor laws go into effect for 2021 in the Golden State. The minimum wage rises to $14 an hour under another existing law that will bring it to $15 an hour for all employees by 2023. Employers with 25 or fewer workers must pay at least $13 an hour.

On Jan. 1, the state’s minimum wage will go up to $14 an hour, as part of the step-by-step plan to get to $15. The change will apply to businesses that have 26 or more employees. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees must increase the minimum wage to $13 an hour.

The California minimum wage increase will happen each year until reaching $15 per hour for all businesses in 2023.

Tulare County is slated to pay $6,456,700 for IHSS in fiscal year 2020-2021 with 4% annual inflation, which includes provider wages. However, as of Jan. 1, 2022, current law will change these ratios to 35% State and 65% County. The county is currently in labor contract negotiations with SEIU 2015.

Only one minimum wage rate applies….Effective July 1, 2021.