Minimum wage law
Minimum wage law is the body of law which prohibits employers from hiring employees or workers for less than a given hourly, daily or monthly minimum wage. More than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation.
History
Until recently, minimum wage laws were usually very tightly focused. In the US and Great Britain, for example, they applied only to women and children. Only after the Great Depression did many industrialized economies extend them to the general work force. Even then, the laws were often specific to certain industries. In France, for example, they were extensions of existing trade union legislation. In the US, industry specific wage restrictions were held to be unconstitutional. The country's Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established a uniform national minimum wage for nonfarm, nonsupervisory workers. Coverage was later extended to most of the labor force.- In 1894, New Zealand established such arbitration boards with the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act
- In 1896, the colony of Victoria, Australia established similar boards
- In 1907, the Harvester decision was handed down in Australia. It established a 'living wage' for a man, his wife and two children to "live in frugal comfort"
- In 1909, the Trade Boards Act was enacted in the United Kingdom, establishing four such boards
- In 1912, the state of Massachusetts, United States, set minimum wages for women and children
- In the United States, statutory minimum wages were first introduced nationally in 1938
- In the 1960s, minimum wage laws were introduced into Latin America as part of the Alliance for Progress; however these minimum wages were, and are, low
Minimum wage law by country
Australia
The Australian National Minimum Wage is the minimum base rate of pay for ordinary hours worked to any employee who is not covered by a Modern Award or an Agreement. In 1896 in Victoria, Australia, an amendment to the Factories Act provided for the creation of a wages board. The wages board did not set a universal minimum wage; rather it set basic wages for 6 industries that were considered to pay low wages. First enacted as a four-year experiment, the wages board was renewed in 1900 and made permanent in 1904; by that time it covered 150 different industries. By 1902, other Australian states, such as New South Wales and Western Australia, had also formed wages boards. The notion of a "basic wage" was established in 1907 with the Harvester Judgment. In Australia, on 14 December 2005, the Australian Fair Pay Commission was established under the Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005 responsible for the adjustment of the standard federal minimum wage, replacing the role of the Australian Industrial Relations Commission that took submissions from a variety of sources to determine appropriate minimum wages. The Australian Fair Pay Commission was replaced by Fair Work Australia in 2010.Australian historical rates
Brazil
Since Plano Real, the Brazilian national minimum wage is adjusted annually. Historical data and a rough approximation to US Dollars can be seen in the table below.| Starting date | Value | Value |
| 1 July 1994 | 64,79 | 70,96 |
| 1 September 1994 | 70,00 | 81,30 |
| 1 May 1995 | 100,00 | 104,82 |
| 1 May 1996 | 112,00 | 109,06 |
| 1 May 1997 | 120,00 | 108,89 |
| 1 May 1998 | 130,00 | 95,45 |
| 1 May 1999 | 136,00 | 74,52 |
| 3 April 2000 | 151,00 | 79,85 |
| 1 April 2001 | 180,00 | 73,71 |
| 1 April 2002 | 200,00 | 63,88 |
| 1 April 2003 | 240,00 | 82,08 |
| 1 May 2004 | 260,00 | 91,48 |
| 1 May 2005 | 300,00 | 130,82 |
| 1 April 2006 | 350,00 | 162,52 |
| 1 April 2007 | 380,00 | 201,60 |
| 1 March 2008 | 415,00 | 218,67 |
| 1 February 2009 | 465,00 | 236,27 |
| 1 January 2010 | 510,00 | 293,77 |
| 1 January 2011 | 540,00 | 332,92 |
| 1 March 2011 | 545,00 | 336,00 |
| 1 January 2012 | 622,00 | 348,08 |
| 1 January 2013 | 678,00 | 331,38 |
| 1 January 2014 | 724,00 | 302,80 |
| 1 January 2015 | 788,00 | 280,33 |
| 1 January 2016 | 880,00 | 225,41 |
| 1 January 2017 | 937,00 | 283,94 |
| 1 January 2018 | 954,00 | |
| 1 January 2019 | 998,00 | |
| 1 January 2020 | 1.039,00 | |
| 1 February 2020 | 1.045,00 | |
| 1 January 2021 | 1.100,00 | |
| 1 January 2022 | 1.212,00 | |
| 1 January 2023 | 1.302,00 | |
| 1 May 2023 | 1.320,00 | |
| 1 January 2024 | 1.412,00 | |
| 1 January 2025 | 1.518,00 |
In Brazil each increase the minimum wage results in a significant burden on the federal budget, because the minimum wage is tied to social security benefits and other government programs and salaries.
Canada
Under the Canadian Constitution's federal-provincial division of powers, the responsibility for enacting and enforcing labour laws rests with the ten provinces; the three territories also were granted this power by virtue of federal legislation. This means that each province and territory has its own minimum wage. Some provinces allow lower wages to be paid to liquor servers and other tip earners, and/or to inexperienced employees.The federal government could theoretically set its own minimum wage rates for workers in federal jurisdiction industries. As of 2006 however, the federal minimum wage is defined to be the general adult minimum wage rate of the province or territory where the work is performed. This means, for example, that an interprovincial railway company could not legally pay a worker in British Columbia less than $10.45 an hour regardless of the worker's experience.
People's Republic of China
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security set the People's Republic of China's first minimum wage law on 1 March 2004. The Regulations on Enterprises Minimum Wage was made to "ensure the basic needs of the worker and his family, to help improve workers' performance and to promote fair competition between enterprises." One monthly minimum wage was set for full-time workers, and one hourly minimum wage for part-time workers. Provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions are allowed to legislate for their own minimum wage separate from the national one.A law approved February 2013 mandates a nationwide minimum wage at 40% average urban salaries to be phased in fully by 2015. See List of minimum wages in China for a list of the latest minimum monthly wages for various provinces or municipalities in China.
European Union
In the European Union 18 out of 27 member states currently have national minimum wages. Many countries, such as Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Austria, Italy, and Cyprus have no minimum wage laws but rely on employer groups and trade unions to set minimum earnings through collective bargaining.France
The first nationwide minimum wage in France was introduced via the Interprofessional Guaranteed Minimum Wage law, passed in 1950 and accompanied by a High Commission for Collective Agreements and a companion law known as "SMAG" for rural/agricultural occupations. The SMIG, which established one baseline hourly wage rate for the Paris region and one for the rest of the country, was indexed to price inflation but rose more slowly than average wages. It was replaced by in 1970, which remains the basis of the modern minimum wage law in France.The national minimum wage in France is updated by the government every year in January. By law, the increase cannot be lower than the inflation rate for the previous year. In recent years, the increase was up to two times higher than inflation.
In 2004, 15% of the working population received the minimum wage. In July 2006, the minimum wage in France was set at €8.27 per hour. In July 2008 it was set at €8.71 per hour. An increase of 1.3% on 1 July 2009 brought the hourly rate to €8.82. In 2010, the minimum wage was increased by 0.5% to €8.86 per hour.