MINIMUM WAGE: A legally established price floor on the wage paid to labor. The minimum wage was initiated in the United States in 1938 at a rate of 25 cents per hour. It has been raised numerous times since then. The logic behind a minimum wage is to ensure that workers obtain an adequate income for their efforts. See also | labor | labor market | price floor | market control | surplus | unemployment | efficiency | second estate | third estate | factor markets | monopsony | price ceiling |
