The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) was a New Deal law that established a federal minimum wage, overtime pay requirements, and restrictions on child labor, marking the last major reform of FDR's New Deal and a lasting expansion of federal power over the economy.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) was passed in 1938 as one of the final big pieces of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. It did three main things. It set a federal minimum wage for the first time, it required overtime pay (time-and-a-half) for hours worked beyond a standard workweek, and it banned most child labor in industries involved in interstate commerce.
For APUSH, the FLSA matters because of what it represents, not just what it did. It's a perfect example of KC-7.1.III.A, the New Deal using federal government power to reform the American economy. Before 1938, wages and hours were mostly left to employers and individual states. After the FLSA, the federal government permanently set the floor for working conditions. That floor is still there today, which is exactly the kind of "lasting legacy of reforms" the CED wants you to be able to explain.
The FLSA lives in Topic 7.10 (The New Deal) in Unit 7 and supports learning objective APUSH 7.10.A, explaining how the Great Depression and the New Deal impacted American political, social, and economic life over time. It hits all three parts of KC-7.1.III. It shows government power being used to reform the economy (KC-7.1.III.A). Its timing tells the political story too. By 1938, conservatives in Congress and on the Supreme Court were pushing back hard against the New Deal (KC-7.1.III.B), and the FLSA was basically the last major reform FDR got through before that conservative coalition shut down further expansion. And because minimum wage, overtime, and child labor rules are still federal law, the FLSA is concrete evidence for KC-7.1.III.C, the New Deal's legacy of reforms and regulatory structures that outlived the Depression itself. If you're writing about how the New Deal changed the relationship between government and the economy, the FLSA is one of your cleanest examples.
Keep studying APUSH Unit 7
Minimum Wage (Unit 7)
The FLSA is where the federal minimum wage comes from. The original rate was 25 cents an hour, which sounds tiny, but the point for the exam is the precedent. Washington, not your boss or your state, now set the wage floor.
Child Labor Laws (Units 6-7)
Progressive Era reformers had tried to ban child labor with the Keating-Owen Act (1916), but the Supreme Court struck it down. The FLSA finally made the federal child labor ban stick, and the Court upheld it in 1941. That's a great continuity-and-change thread from Progressivism to the New Deal.
Conservative Resistance to the New Deal (Unit 7)
After the court-packing fight and the 1938 midterms, a conservative coalition in Congress blocked new reforms. The FLSA squeaked through right before that door closed, which makes it useful evidence that the New Deal's momentum stalled after 1937-1938.
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) (Unit 7)
The CCC and FLSA show two different New Deal strategies. The CCC was relief, directly hiring people through a government program. The FLSA was reform, rewriting the permanent rules of the private labor market. The relief programs ended; the reform stuck around.
The FLSA usually shows up in multiple-choice and short-answer questions as evidence for New Deal reform, not as a standalone trivia item. Expect stems about how the New Deal changed the role of the federal government in the economy, or about why New Deal legislation slowed after 1937. Practice questions in this area often test whether you can recognize conservative congressional resistance to FDR's agenda after 1937, and the FLSA is a useful anchor date for that turning point since it was the last major New Deal law. No released FRQ has used the term verbatim, but it's strong specific evidence for LEQs and DBQs on the New Deal's legacy, continuity from Progressive Era labor reform, or the expansion of federal power in Period 7. The move that scores points is connecting the FLSA to an argument, like "the New Deal permanently changed labor standards," rather than just defining it.
Both are New Deal labor laws, so they blur together. The Wagner Act (1935) is about unions. It guaranteed workers the right to organize and bargain collectively. The FLSA (1938) is about individual working conditions. It set minimum wage, overtime, and child labor rules that apply whether or not you're in a union. Quick check: collective bargaining means Wagner, wages and hours means FLSA.
The Fair Labor Standards Act (1938) created the first federal minimum wage, required overtime pay, and banned most child labor.
It was the last major reform law of the New Deal, passed just as conservative resistance in Congress shut down further expansion.
The FLSA is direct evidence for KC-7.1.III.A, the New Deal using federal power to reform the American economy.
It completed a goal Progressive Era reformers had failed to achieve, since earlier federal child labor laws had been struck down by the Supreme Court.
Because minimum wage and overtime rules still exist today, the FLSA is one of the clearest examples of the New Deal's lasting legacy (KC-7.1.III.C).
Don't confuse it with the Wagner Act of 1935, which protected union organizing rather than setting wage and hour standards.
Passed in 1938, the FLSA set a federal minimum wage (originally 25 cents an hour), required time-and-a-half overtime pay beyond a standard workweek, and banned most child labor in interstate commerce. It was one of the last major New Deal reforms.
No. The CED is explicit that the New Deal did not end the Depression (World War II mobilization did that). The FLSA's significance is its lasting reform legacy, not economic recovery.
The Wagner Act (1935) protected workers' right to form unions and bargain collectively. The FLSA (1938) set individual workplace standards like minimum wage, overtime, and child labor limits. One is about union rights, the other about wage-and-hour rules.
It supports learning objective APUSH 7.10.A on the New Deal's impact. It shows federal power reshaping the economy, marks the point where conservative resistance stalled the New Deal, and serves as strong evidence for the New Deal's permanent legacy.
No. The Keating-Owen Act of 1916 banned child labor first, but the Supreme Court struck it down in 1918. The FLSA's child labor ban was the one that survived, upheld by the Court in 1941, making it a classic continuity-and-change example between the Progressive Era and the New Deal.