(LAPORTE, IN) -- Did you know that America's minimum wage was first made law with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which established a federal minimum wage at $0.25 an hour? However, it didn’t cover executives, seasonal employees, and some other groups. Former President Roosevelt said, "It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country."

 

The Indiana minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, the same as the federal minimum wage. The Indiana minimum wage was last increased in 2008 when it was raised by $0.60.

 

State Representative Pat Boy put forward House Bill 1345 to slowly increase the minimum wage to $11 an hour by December 31, 2022. But it didn’t make it past an Employment, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing. In today's SOUND OFF episode, we talk about the minimum wage and whether our listeners think it should be increased. 

 

 

CREDITS: Dennis Siddall (Producer), Jeff Wuggazer (Editor), Nate Loucks (Host), Bryant Dabney (Guest)

 

SOUND OFF is a community conversation show that airs every Monday and Friday on 96.7 the Eagle in LaPorte County, Indiana. SOUND OFF is a Spoon River Media production.