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.
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 Mesopotamia during the reign of Hammurabi, minimum wage rates were set by law.A History of Advertising The First 300,000 Years By Jef I Richards, 2022, P.18 In 1894, New Zealand established 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. p. 342.
Several conventions of the International Labour Organization provide for "minimum wage fixing" for rights of labours, for example: Minimum Wage-Fixing Machinery Convention, 1928, Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery (Agriculture) Convention, 1951, and Minimum Wage Fixing Convention, 1970.
Minimum wage law by jurisdiction
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.Australian Fair Work Ombudsman, Minimum Wages Fact Sheet (accessed 27 July 2012) 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.Waltman, Jerold. "The Politics of the Minimum Wage." University of Illinois Press. 2000 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 (WorkChoices) 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 Commencement Date Federal Minimum Wage (AUD) Notes per Hour per 38 Hour WeekJuly 1966£16/8/-14 February 1966$1.00$38.00Currency changed from pounds/shillings/pence (£/s/d) to dollars.cents ($.¢)1967$1.00$38.00No wage increaseJuly 1967UnchangedUnchangedNo wage increaseOctober 1968$1.35$51.00Increased to $1.35December 1969$1.39$52.543% wage increase1970$1.47$55.906% wage increaseJanuary 1971UnchangedUnchangedNo wage increase5 May 1972$2.00$76.00Increased to $2.0015 December 1972UnchangedUnchangedNo wage increase8 May 1973$2.04$77.522% wage increase2 May 1974$2.08$81.572% + $2.50 wage increaseApril 1975$2.15$81.883.6% wage increaseSeptember 1975$2.23$84.753.5% wage increaseNovember 1975UnchangedUnchangedWage increase refusedFebruary 1976$2.37$90.166.4% wage increaseMay 1976$2.44$92.763% wage increaseAugust 1976$2.50$95.26$2.50 wage increaseNovember 1976$2.55$97.092.2% wage increaseMarch 1977$2.70$102.79$5.70 wage increaseMay 1977$2.75$104.541.9% wage increaseAugust 1977$2.80$106.592% wage increaseNovember 1977$2.84$107.991.5% wage increaseFebruary 1978$2.88$109.531.5% wage increaseMarch 1978$2.91$110.861.3% wage increaseSeptember 1978$3.02$115.004% wage increaseJune 1979$3.11$118.433.2% wage increaseJanuary 1980$3.24$123.494.5% wage increaseJuly 1980$3.37$128.294.2% wage increaseJanuary 1981$3.49$132.793.7% wage increaseMay 1981$3.61$137.393.6% wage increaseMay 1982UnchangedUnchangedNo wage increaseSeptember 1983$3.76$142.884.3% wage increaseApril 1984$3.91$148.734.1% wage increaseApril 1985$4.01$152.442.6% wage increaseNovember 1985$4.16$158.173.8% wage increaseJune 1986$4.25$161.712.3% wage increaseDecember 1986UnchangedUnchangedIncrease refusedMarch 1987$4.51$178.24$10.00 + 4% wage increaseDecember 1987UnchangedUnchangedIncrease refusedFebruary 1988$4.84$184.24$6.00 wage increaseAugust 1988$4.98$189.433% wage increaseFebruary 1989$5.48$208.3710.0% wage increaseAugust 1989$5.64$214.493% + 3% wage increaseMarch–April$5.64$214.49No wage increaseApril 1991$6.59$250.452.5% wage increaseApril 1992$6.59$250.45No wage increaseNovember 1993$6.80$258.45$8.00 wage increaseSeptember 1994$7.01$266.45$8.00 wage increaseMarch 1995$7.22$274.45No wage increaseOctober 1995$7.48$284.45$8.00 wage increaseApril 1997$9.45$359.40$10.00 wage increaseApril 1998$9.82$373.40$14.00 wage increaseApril 1999$10.14$385.40$12.00 wage increaseMay 2000$10.53$400.40$15.00 wage increaseMay 2001$10.87$413.40$13.00 wage increaseMay 2002$11.35$431.40$18.00 wage increaseMay 2003$11.80$448.40$17.00 wage increaseMay 2004$12.30$467.40$19.00 wage increaseMay 2005$12.75$484.50$17.00 wage increase1 July 2006$13.37$508.07$27.36 wage increase1 December 2006$13.47$511.86$10.26 wage increase 1 October 2007 $13.74$522.12 1 October 2008 $14.31$543.78 1 July 2009 Minimum wages, Fair Work Ombudsman, September 2011 (accessed 28 June 2012)UnchangedUnchangedFair Work Act 2009 commenced 1 July 2010 ABC News | The Fair Work Act: A Handbook, Australian Business Lawyers & Advisors, February 2011 (accessed 28 June 2012)$15.00$569.90 1 July 2011 Australian Fair Work Ombudsman| http://www.fairwork.gov.au/pay/national-minimum-wage/pages/default.aspx1 July a Key Date for Employers, Fair Work Ombudsman, Media release, 24 June 2011 (accessed 28 June 2012)$15.51$589.30 1 July 2012 Australia's New Pay Rates Take Effect from 1 July, Fair Work Ombudsman, Media release, 28 June 2012 (accessed 28 June 2012)$15.96$606.40Different rates apply to the young, apprentices/trainees, and people with a disability. Depending on these factors, including geographical cost of living calculations, actual "minimum wage" can be as much as 50% lower than shown. 1 July 2013 $16.37$622.20Different rates apply to the young, apprentices/trainees, and people with a disability. Depending on these factors, including geographical cost of living calculations, actual "minimum wage" can be as much as 50% lower than shown. 1 July 2014 $16.87$640.90Different rates apply to the young, apprentices/trainees, and people with a disability.1 July 2015$17.29$656.901 July 2016$17.70$672.701 July 2017$18.29$694.901 July 2018$18.93$719.20Fair work decision (Announced 1 June 2018)1 July 2019$19.49$740.801 July 2020$19.84$753.80Source – www.fairwork.gov.au/minimumwage1 July 2021$20.33$772.601 July 2022$21.38$812.601 July 2023$23.23$882.801 July 2024$24.10$915.801 July 2025$24.95$948.101 July 2026$26.44 $1,004.90
Australian Fair Work Ombudsman, Minimum Wages Fact Sheet
Brazil Since Plano Real, the Brazilian national minimum wage is adjusted annually. Historical data and a rough approximation to US Dollars can be seen in the table below.
Starting date Value (R$) Value (US$) 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 (interprovincial railways, for example). 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.
Alongside local discretion in minimum wage standards, national rules also provide for how those standards are defined and enforced. China’s Minimum Wage Rules (2004) set minimum wage standards that cover employers and workers nationwide, with rules on how these standards are structured and updated locally. The Rules distinguish between monthly minimum wages for full-time workers and hourly minimum wages for part-time workers, direct provincial labor regulators to develop local minimum wage plans through an approval process, and require that standards be adjusted as necessary and revised at least once every two years. Under the Rules, county labor regulators and local labor unions are tasked with overseeing employer compliance with local standards and are empowered to request enforcement against and order noncompliant employers to correct violations, pay any owed wages, and, in some cases, pay compensatory damages of one to five times owed wages. Translated in