Thanks Dwight Schrute, that's quite an assertion without anything to back it up. Historically, and worldwide, the inception of a minimum wage was enough "for a

Thanks Dwight Schrute, that's quite an assertion without anything to back it up. Historically, and worldwide, the inception of a minimum wage was enough "for a man, his wife and two children to live in frugal comfort" (Australia). In the US, the biggest win wasn't the wage at all, but the abolition of child labor in textile plants. In this snippet from [0]: In the meantime, various industries developed more complete codes. The Cotton Textile Code was the first of these and one of the most important. It provided for a 40-hour workweek, set a minimum weekly wage of $13 in the North and $12 in the South, and abolished child labor. [Roosevelt] said this code made him "happier than any other one thing...since I have come to Washington, for the code abolished child labor in the textile industry." He added: "After years of fruitless effort and discussion, this ancient atrocity went out in a day." Minimum wages for women were also a part of this. [0]: http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm