Minimum wages:25 cents,30 cents and an industry-order route
Read the original wage schedule and calculate a simple nominal wage floor without assuming a universal 40-cent rate by 1941.
Exam scope and assessment notes
Sixteen original lessons and 48 explained guided, independent and transfer tasks introduce the listed causes in enquiry 6.1 for 2027–2029. Compare Republican policy, the boom and unequal wealth, urban/rural differences, speculation and valuation, confidence, war and international trade, banking and the Federal Reserve, agriculture, old and new industries, production and oversupply. This is introductory teaching, not full AS or A Level preparation. Twenty-six further lessons and 78 explained tasks introduce enquiry 6.2: financial losses and bankruptcy, regulation demands, unemployment and hours, agriculture and deflation, welfare, family and minority experiences, Hoover’s agricultural, housing, RFC and relief responses, Bonus Marchers, and the 1932 election and developing coalition. Fifteen further lessons and 45 explained tasks begin enquiry 6.3 through the March crisis, advisers and Congress, holiday and emergency banking legislation, selective reopening, an original source-comparison workshop, conservation work, FERA, agricultural adjustment, industrial codes, public works, TVA and securities disclosure. Eighteen further lessons and 54 explained tasks deepen enquiry 6.3 through original banking-separation and temporary-insurance conditions, securities registration and non-approval, the 1934 market framework, distinct HOLC routes and later operational evidence, farm credit, November CWA recruitment and February 1934 reductions, a local tenant case, labour conditions and an original programme-source comparison. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce Supreme Court disputes: Schechter’s delegation and commerce grounds, Butler’s majority and Stone’s dissent, the February 1937 draft’s conditions and ceilings, its failure, Gannett’s press argument, Sumners’s Southern Democratic opposition, the Jones & Laughlin industrial case and existing-seat appointments through 1941. A selected administration/publisher comparison uses original paraphrases, not a full authentic source set. Nine further lessons and 27 explained tasks introduce critics from the Left and Right through Thomas, the June 1936 Communist platform, Townsend’s changing pension plans, Long’s dated redistribution appeal, Coughlin’s monetary proposals and antisemitic propaganda, Republican alternatives and Smith’s Liberty League intervention. A selected Smith/Thomas comparison and a dated official election-table exercise distinguish shared opposition, different institutions, audience, votes and influence. These are original introductory case studies, not complete political histories. Enquiry 6.3 remains partial: wider programme implementation and local, racial and gender access and outcomes, deeper organisational and regional histories of opposition, earlier and later political tactics, further Supreme Court rulings and fuller political and legal depth still need teaching and practice. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks begin enquiry 6.4 through the January 1935 security initiative, selected original Social Security assistance, benefit and tax provisions, Wagner Act rights and Board procedures, and WPA creation and work rules. A selected proposal/statute comparison uses original paraphrases, not a full authentic source set. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce the 1936 election through the electoral result and its denominator, party claims and pledges, Roosevelt’s Philadelphia economic-freedom argument, the September farm–city broadcast, labour mobilisation, Black political agency and Southern resistance, Farley’s organisation, the July postmaster procedures and June relief anti-coercion provisions. A selected Roosevelt/Republican comparison distinguishes shared concern with insecurity from different institutions. Fourteen further lessons and 42 explained tasks introduce selected 1935–1937 mechanisms: the June tax proposals and enacted individual and corporate schedules; NYA creation and student-aid limits; original rural power loans and allocations; conservation plans, payments and tenant safeguards; farm-acquisition and rehabilitation finance; and original low-rent housing access and finance. A selected tax-proposal/electrification-statute comparison distinguishes instruments and evidence of outcomes. Sixteen further lessons and 48 explained tasks introduce the 1937–1938 recession through industrial measures, fiscal cash flows, payroll collection, reserve requirements and bank responses, Treasury gold finance, inventories and prices, employment and hours, uneven business and household effects, the April recovery proposals, June work-relief and public-works authority, and an upturn with continuing weaknesses. A selected Roosevelt/Eccles comparison preserves the latter’s expressly personal standpoint. All three listed recession strands now have introductory teaching; full historical and assessment coverage remains unfinished. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce the original 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act and its 1941 Darby validation: commercial coverage, phased wages and overtime, distinct exemptions, child-labour conditions, special certificates, enforcement and stronger applicable state standards. A selected statute/Court comparison distinguishes purpose, constitutional validity and measured outcomes. This is a selected labour-standards introduction, not complete beneficiary, exclusion or government-change coverage. Eleven further lessons and 33 explained tasks introduce family security under the original 1939 Social Security amendments: earlier monthly operation, worker qualification, wives, widows, children and parents, continuing employment exclusions, distinct state assistance, claims and hearings, pooled finance, actual January–June 1940 payment records and startup limits. A selected law/trustees comparison distinguishes legal rights, recorded delivery and unproven household adequacy. This is a selected family-security introduction, not complete beneficiary, exclusion, administrative or economic-recovery coverage. Enquiry 6.4 remains partial: fuller revenue and programme histories, political motives, deeper regional election and coalition histories, reception and causal evidence, fuller patronage and civil-service practice, programme implementation and unequal access and outcomes, deeper fiscal and bank series, industrial and household experiences, and government, recovery and experiences through 1941 still need further teaching and practice. The 1937 proposal is later follow-through within 6.3, not an event of the First 100 Days. Historical depth, wider authentic reading, subject-specialist review, complete source sets, full papers and calibrated marking remain unfinished. Selected source cards are labelled original paraphrases, not quotations or complete authentic documents. Existing 2026 lessons receive no automatic revised-year credit. The Great Crash, the Great Depression and the New Deal, 1920–1941 is an American Paper 2 topic in 2027 and 2029, and the American Paper 1 topic in 2028. Paper 1 Historical sources is 75 minutes and 40 marks: answer both parts of one question using four sources totalling at most 600 words, with at least three written sources and up to one visual. Part (a) compares two sources for 15 marks; part (b) uses all four sources and contextual knowledge for a 25-mark judgement. Paper 2 Outline study is 105 minutes and 60 marks: answer two questions from one section and both parts of each, with a 10-mark causal explanation and a 20-mark argument. These lessons are introductory practice, not a complete assessment programme.
Before you begin
- Distinguish the original 1938 law, its effective phases and later amendments
- Separate coverage, exemption, certificate, enforcement, Court holding and measured benefit
Work on paper. Try each question before revealing help, and explain why your method works.
Quick readiness check
How should you judge a labour-standards reform?
What you will learn
- What are the invented thirty-hour floors in November 1938 and November 1939?
- Does section 6 prove every worker earned 40 cents by 1941?
- How would you evaluate a claim that the Act raised family living standards by 20 percent?
Evaluate an AS historical judgement
- Write your own response before opening the model.
- Define the outcome, explain dated mechanisms and weigh alternatives. Label invented arithmetic and distinguish source claims from measured results.
Sixteen original lessons and 48 explained guided, independent and transfer tasks introduce the listed causes in enquiry 6.1 for 2027–2029. Compare Republican policy, the boom and unequal wealth, urban/rural differences, speculation and valuation, confidence, war and international trade, banking and the Federal Reserve, agriculture, old and new industries, production and oversupply. This is introductory teaching, not full AS or A Level preparation. Twenty-six further lessons and 78 explained tasks introduce enquiry 6.2: financial losses and bankruptcy, regulation demands, unemployment and hours, agriculture and deflation, welfare, family and minority experiences, Hoover’s agricultural, housing, RFC and relief responses, Bonus Marchers, and the 1932 election and developing coalition. Fifteen further lessons and 45 explained tasks begin enquiry 6.3 through the March crisis, advisers and Congress, holiday and emergency banking legislation, selective reopening, an original source-comparison workshop, conservation work, FERA, agricultural adjustment, industrial codes, public works, TVA and securities disclosure. Eighteen further lessons and 54 explained tasks deepen enquiry 6.3 through original banking-separation and temporary-insurance conditions, securities registration and non-approval, the 1934 market framework, distinct HOLC routes and later operational evidence, farm credit, November CWA recruitment and February 1934 reductions, a local tenant case, labour conditions and an original programme-source comparison. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce Supreme Court disputes: Schechter’s delegation and commerce grounds, Butler’s majority and Stone’s dissent, the February 1937 draft’s conditions and ceilings, its failure, Gannett’s press argument, Sumners’s Southern Democratic opposition, the Jones & Laughlin industrial case and existing-seat appointments through 1941. A selected administration/publisher comparison uses original paraphrases, not a full authentic source set. Nine further lessons and 27 explained tasks introduce critics from the Left and Right through Thomas, the June 1936 Communist platform, Townsend’s changing pension plans, Long’s dated redistribution appeal, Coughlin’s monetary proposals and antisemitic propaganda, Republican alternatives and Smith’s Liberty League intervention. A selected Smith/Thomas comparison and a dated official election-table exercise distinguish shared opposition, different institutions, audience, votes and influence. These are original introductory case studies, not complete political histories. Enquiry 6.3 remains partial: wider programme implementation and local, racial and gender access and outcomes, deeper organisational and regional histories of opposition, earlier and later political tactics, further Supreme Court rulings and fuller political and legal depth still need teaching and practice. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks begin enquiry 6.4 through the January 1935 security initiative, selected original Social Security assistance, benefit and tax provisions, Wagner Act rights and Board procedures, and WPA creation and work rules. A selected proposal/statute comparison uses original paraphrases, not a full authentic source set. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce the 1936 election through the electoral result and its denominator, party claims and pledges, Roosevelt’s Philadelphia economic-freedom argument, the September farm–city broadcast, labour mobilisation, Black political agency and Southern resistance, Farley’s organisation, the July postmaster procedures and June relief anti-coercion provisions. A selected Roosevelt/Republican comparison distinguishes shared concern with insecurity from different institutions. Fourteen further lessons and 42 explained tasks introduce selected 1935–1937 mechanisms: the June tax proposals and enacted individual and corporate schedules; NYA creation and student-aid limits; original rural power loans and allocations; conservation plans, payments and tenant safeguards; farm-acquisition and rehabilitation finance; and original low-rent housing access and finance. A selected tax-proposal/electrification-statute comparison distinguishes instruments and evidence of outcomes. Sixteen further lessons and 48 explained tasks introduce the 1937–1938 recession through industrial measures, fiscal cash flows, payroll collection, reserve requirements and bank responses, Treasury gold finance, inventories and prices, employment and hours, uneven business and household effects, the April recovery proposals, June work-relief and public-works authority, and an upturn with continuing weaknesses. A selected Roosevelt/Eccles comparison preserves the latter’s expressly personal standpoint. All three listed recession strands now have introductory teaching; full historical and assessment coverage remains unfinished. Ten further lessons and 30 explained tasks introduce the original 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act and its 1941 Darby validation: commercial coverage, phased wages and overtime, distinct exemptions, child-labour conditions, special certificates, enforcement and stronger applicable state standards. A selected statute/Court comparison distinguishes purpose, constitutional validity and measured outcomes. This is a selected labour-standards introduction, not complete beneficiary, exclusion or government-change coverage. Eleven further lessons and 33 explained tasks introduce family security under the original 1939 Social Security amendments: earlier monthly operation, worker qualification, wives, widows, children and parents, continuing employment exclusions, distinct state assistance, claims and hearings, pooled finance, actual January–June 1940 payment records and startup limits. A selected law/trustees comparison distinguishes legal rights, recorded delivery and unproven household adequacy. This is a selected family-security introduction, not complete beneficiary, exclusion, administrative or economic-recovery coverage. Enquiry 6.4 remains partial: fuller revenue and programme histories, political motives, deeper regional election and coalition histories, reception and causal evidence, fuller patronage and civil-service practice, programme implementation and unequal access and outcomes, deeper fiscal and bank series, industrial and household experiences, and government, recovery and experiences through 1941 still need further teaching and practice. The 1937 proposal is later follow-through within 6.3, not an event of the First 100 Days. Historical depth, wider authentic reading, subject-specialist review, complete source sets, full papers and calibrated marking remain unfinished. Selected source cards are labelled original paraphrases, not quotations or complete authentic documents. Existing 2026 lessons receive no automatic revised-year credit.
Teaching brief and original analytical model
The opening brief is original StudyForA teaching prose, not a quotation, contemporary document or historian’s extract. The Great Crash, the Great Depression and the New Deal, 1920–1941 is an American Paper 2 topic in 2027 and 2029, and the American Paper 1 topic in 2028. Paper 1 Historical sources is 75 minutes and 40 marks: answer both parts of one question using four sources totalling at most 600 words, with at least three written sources and up to one visual. Part (a) compares two sources for 15 marks; part (b) uses all four sources and contextual knowledge for a 25-mark judgement. Paper 2 Outline study is 105 minutes and 60 marks: answer two questions from one section and both parts of each, with a 10-mark causal explanation and a 20-mark argument. These lessons are introductory practice, not a complete assessment programme.
StudyForA teaching brief · Minimum wages:25 cents,30 cents and an industry-order route
[1] Original analytical brief. Read the original wage schedule and calculate a simple nominal wage floor without assuming a universal 40-cent rate by 1941. This is original teaching prose, not a contemporary document or quotation. Write before opening the model.
1. How would you evaluate a claim that the Act raised family living standards by 20 percent?
Compare after trying
The statutory wage schedule shows a phased intervention rather than an immediate universal forty-cent wage. The ordinary minimum began at twenty-five cents on 24 October 1938 and moved to thirty cents after the first year. Industry orders provided another route to rates up to forty cents, subject to the law’s procedures and employment-related conditions. An actual example therefore requires a date and an identified applicable rule.
With coverage, no exemption or certificate, no higher order and thirty straight-time hours assumed, the classroom calculation moves from$7.50 in November 1938 to$9.00 in November 1939. Its$1.50 difference equals twenty percent of the earlier floor. Keeping those assumptions visible prevents an invented arithmetic example from becoming a claimed national wage series or a record of a particular family’s income.
The effect on living standards remains a separate historical question. A worker already paid above the floor might have no direct hourly rise; another might gain but lose hours or face different prices. Enforcement and the distribution of covered work matter too. Payrolls, hours and household records would test actual benefit, while the legal schedule alone establishes a potential minimum under specified conditions.
Why this response fits
- Use dated provisions and distinguish legal design from measured outcomes.
- Compare scope, exceptions, implementation and evidence of experience.
- This original analytical model is not a calibrated examination script or Cambridge grade.
Date the ordinary minimum
Section 6 set the ordinary first-year floor at 25 cents an hour from 24 October 1938. For the next six years it specified 30 cents. Those periods did not mean 25 cents for all of calendar 1938 and 30 cents from 1 January 1939. The anniversary of the effective date mattered. Coverage and exemptions also remained relevant, and a wage above the applicable floor was not required to fall to that floor. These are historical nominal cents, not present purchasing-power equivalents.
Read the additional route
Section 6 also required compliance with an applicable Administrator’s wage order under section 8, with rates not exceeding 40 cents an hour. Industry committees investigated conditions and recommended rates through a specified procedure. Thus some applicable rates could rise above the ordinary floor before the seven-year point. Conversely, the original post-seven-year language retained a qualified industry-order alternative; it should not be reduced to an unconditional rule that every worker necessarily received exactly 40 cents after a simple fixed date.
Calculate a labelled illustration
Assume an invented adult worker is covered and non-exempt, has no special certificate or higher applicable order, and works a straight-time thirty-hour week in November 1938. Thirty multiplied by$0.25 gives a nominal$7.50 floor. Holding all those assumptions constant in November 1939, thirty multiplied by$0.30 gives$9.00. The difference is$1.50, or 20 percent of$7.50. These invented earnings are not a historical payroll, proof of adequate family income or an estimate of jobs created.
Judge the economic benefit
The same hourly rule could matter differently to a worker previously paid 20 cents and one already paid 45 cents. Weekly hours, layoffs, prices, dependants and enforcement also affected household experience. An industry order has to be dated and identified before it can replace the ordinary floor in a historical example. Do not add the minimum to the previous wage as if it were a government bonus, or count a higher legal minimum as measured real-income growth for every covered household.
Sources for this lesson
- Cambridge History 9489 · 2027–2029 Version 2 · American enquiry 6.4 p. 29, AS rotation pp. 37–38 and assessment pp. 66–69
- Cambridge History 9489 · 2027–2029 update · Version 2 changes, April 2025
- United States · original Fair Labor Standards Act, 25 June 1938 · 52 Stat.1060–1069, selected sections; historical law, not the amended modern code
- U.S. Department of Labor · historical account of the 1938 enactment · retrospective context and 24 October effective date
Pause and explain
Which explanation best fits this lesson?
Worked example
What are the invented thirty-hour floors in November 1938 and November 1939?
Show the worked solution
- Multiply 30 by$0.25.
- Multiply 30 by$0.30.
- Compare nominal totals without claiming actual receipt.
Answer The illustrative floors are$7.50 and$9.00, a$1.50 increase or 20 percent of the earlier floor. The calculation assumes coverage, no exemption/certificate and no higher order.
Try a topic test
Choose Easy, Normal or Difficult. Save your answers and open worked review after finishing.
Test this topic →From guided practice to a new situation
Write your answer and reasoning first. Use a hint only if you are stuck. The model solution is for self-checking; your written work is not automatically marked.
Guided: What are the invented thirty-hour floors in November 1938 and November 1939?
Give me a hint
Use the operative anniversary and hold the stated assumptions fixed.
Compare my reasoning
- Multiply 30 by$0.25.
- Multiply 30 by$0.30.
- Compare nominal totals without claiming actual receipt.
The illustrative floors are$7.50 and$9.00, a$1.50 increase or 20 percent of the earlier floor. The calculation assumes coverage, no exemption/certificate and no higher order.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies the relevant historical provision and date
- Explains its mechanism, coverage and evidential limit
Independent: Does section 6 prove every worker earned 40 cents by 1941?
Give me a hint
Separate the ordinary schedule from an applicable industry order.
Compare my reasoning
- Identify the 30-cent phase.
- Check coverage and specific orders.
- Avoid a universal earnings claim.
No. The ordinary floor was 30 cents in that phase; applicable orders could require more, up to 40 cents. Neither the schedule nor an order establishes actual earnings for every worker.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies the relevant historical provision and date
- Explains its mechanism, coverage and evidential limit
Transfer: How would you evaluate a claim that the Act raised family living standards by 20 percent?
Give me a hint
Distinguish a numerical floor from household experience.
Compare my reasoning
- Identify the invented fixed-hours comparison.
- Test actual prior pay, hours and compliance.
- Compare prices, dependants and other income.
The 20 percent change is in an invented nominal floor, not a measured family living-standard change. Actual wages, hours, prices and household resources are needed to assess the broader claim.
Look for these in your work
- Identifies the relevant historical provision and date
- Explains its mechanism, coverage and evidential limit
Common mistakes
- Turning a minimum wage into a payment added to existing wages
- Substituting an invented nominal percentage for measured real household income
What can you explain now?
Which explanation best fits this lesson?
Compare with the explanation
Date the wage phase and any applicable order before calculating a nominal floor
The original schedule and industry-order route differed. A dated nominal minimum is not an observed wage, a bonus or a household real-income measure.
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Make it stick
Which explanation best fits this lesson?
If you needed the solution, close it and solve the problem again from a blank page. A correct answer is stronger when you can explain the reason for each step.