The City that Never Sleeps Is Waking Up to Its Pay Problems

During Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration, the proponents of the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act sought to create “the most far-reaching program for the benefit of workers ever adopted in this country” by establishing a federal minimum wage. The Act aimed to compel labor conditions that met a very basic standard of living necessary for the health and livelihoods of workers.

Today, in many cities and communities around the country, people are working full-time jobs that pay $7.25—the current federal minimum wage—and are still living in poverty. More than 75 years later, are we failing the Act's cause?