State Minimum Wage Ballot Measures: In Brief (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
Revised Jan. 28, 2021 |
| Report Number |
R44706 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
David H. Bradley Specialist in Labor Economics |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
| Older Revisions |
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Summary:
On November 6, 2018, voters in two states--Arkansas and Missouri--approved ballot measures to increase state minimum wage rates. These and previous ballot measures provide states one way of establishing minimum wage provisions different from those required by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA; P.L. 75-718). [...] The FLSA, enacted in 1938, is the federal legislation that establishes the general minimum wage that must be paid to all covered workers. The Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that more than 130 million workers are subject to the provisions of the FLSA. Since the FLSA established a minimum wage of $0.25 per hour in 1938, Congress has amended the act numerous times, typically to expand coverage or raise the wage rate. Since its establishment, the minimum wage rate has been raised 22 separate times, most recently in 2007, when it was increased from $5.15 per hour to its current rate of $7.25 per hour in three steps (the final step occurring in 2009).
