The Minimum Wage for Women and Minors

Abstract

The agitation for the regulation of the wages of women and minors in this country is of recent origin. The movement has, however, spread rapidly. Already eleven states have enacted laws providing for such regulation. Other states have created investi-gating commissions to secure data upon which to base laws. Bills providing for minimum wage laws are now being considered by the legislatures of various states.

These facts suggest several questions. Do conditions among wage-earning women call for such interference on the part of the state? Is there an important problem of low earnings? If so, what are the causes? To what extent are youth, inefficiency, inexperience, and exploitation responsible for low wages of women and girls? What is the character of the legislation that has boon tried, and what have been the results. An attempt is made in this essay to answer these and other questions.

The first chapter is devoted to a consideration of the problem of low earnings and the causes; the second, to an examination of the laws adopted in the various states; the third, to the orders Issued by some of the wage commissions; and the fourth, to the conclusions toward which the facts given in the preceding chapters lead.