why were laws about minimum wage created
The national minimum wage was created by Congress under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. Congress enacted this legislation under its Constitutional grant of authority to regulate interstate commerce.
The Minimum Wage: An Overview. Minimum wage laws establish a base level of pay that employers are required to pay certain covered employees. The current federal minimum wage is $6.55 per hour. The laws consist primarily of federal and state statutes. When an employee is subject to both the state and federal minimum wage laws, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages.