BUILDING BLOCKS TEACHER GUIDE Exploring the minimum Students research U.S. Department of Labor web resources to learn about the and some affecting workers.

Learning goals KEY INFORMATION

Big idea Building block:

Minimum wage laws set the lowest hourly rate a Financial knowledge and person can earn doing a specific eligible job. decision-making skills

Grade level: High school (9–12) Essential questions Age range: 13–19 § What is the minimum wage? Topic: Earn (Getting paid, Making money) § What protections does the government provide for workers’ earnings? School subject: CTE (Career and technical education), English or language Objectives arts, Social studies or history

§ Become familiar with federal minimum Teaching strategy: Cooperative learning, wage laws Direct instruction § Recognize specific wage laws that apply to Bloom’s Taxonomy level: Understand, young people Evaluate

Activity duration: 45–60 minutes What students will do

§ Read a poster about the federal minimum wage and other pay issues. STANDARDS

§ Answer reading comprehension questions. Council for Economic Education § Do Internet research to determine how their Standard 1. Earning income state’s minimum wage compares to the Jump$tart Coalition federal minimum wage. Employment and income - Standard 1 Financial decision-making - Standard 3

To find this and other activities, go to: Consumer Financial Protection Bureau consumerfinance.gov/teach-activities 1 of 6 Winter 2020 Preparing for this activity

□ Secure access to computers or tablets and the Internet for students to conduct research. □ Print copies of all student materials for each student, or prepare for students to access them electronically. □ Become familiar with the “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” poster at https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/flsa.htm. □ Explore two U.S. Department of Labor web resources:

° https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm, which students will use to compare their state’s minimum wage to the federal minimum wage.

° https://www.youthrules.gov/know-the-limits/index.htm, which students will use to learn about the youth minimum wage.

□ Make copies of the “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” poster for the class, or let students access it electronically.

What you’ll need

THIS TEACHER GUIDE § Exploring the minimum wage (guide) cfpb_building_block_activities_exploring-minimum-wage_guide.pdf

STUDENT MATERIALS § Exploring the minimum wage (worksheet) cfpb_building_block_activities_exploring-minimum-wage_worksheet.pdf § “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” poster (hard copy or accessed electronically at https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/flsa.htm) § Two U.S. Department of Labor web resources: https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/ america.htm and https://www.youthrules.gov/know-the-limits/index.htm § Computers or tablets

BUILDING BLOCKS TEACHER GUIDE Exploring the minimum wage 2 of 6 Winter 2020 Exploring key financial concepts

The federal government and some state and local governments TIP may have laws that set a different minimum wage for many Because local, state, or workers. The federal minimum wage laws are part of the Fair federal minimum wage laws Labor Standards Act (FLSA). While some types of employees and can change, students should employers are exempt, the federal minimum wage applies be encouraged to always to employees who work for certain businesses or organizations look for the most up-to-date that have an annual gross income of at least $500,000 and to information. smaller firms if the employees are engaged in interstate business or in the production of goods for sale. Many states and some cities also have minimum wage laws. When both state and federal minimum wage laws apply to an employee, she or he is entitled to the higher minimum wage rate. Teaching this activity

Whole-class introduction

§ Ask students to talk with a partner about what they know or think they know about the minimum wage. § Bring them back together to share key points they discussed. § Distribute the “Exploring minimum wage” worksheet. § Distribute the “Employee Rights Under the Fair Labor Standards Act” poster, or have students access it electronically at https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/flsa.htm.

° Note: This poster is available in nine languages. To access these versions, visit https://www.dol.gov/whd/minimumwage.htm.

§ Be sure students understand key vocabulary:

° Federal minimum wage: The lowest national wage as TIP established by law in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Visit CFPB’s financial ° Income: Money earned or received such as or education glossary at salaries, tips, commissions, contracted pay, government consumerfinance.gov/ transfer payments, dividends on investments, tax refunds, financial-education-glossary/. gifts, and inheritances.

° Minimum wage: A wage set by or by law as the lowest that may be paid to employees.

3 of 6 ° Tip income: Money and goods received for services performed by food servers, baggage handlers, hairdressers, and others. Tips go beyond the stated amount of the bill and are given voluntarily.

§ Discuss as a class some of their initial takeaways. Be sure the TIP conversation highlights: Consider asking students to ° A focus on employee rights. see what they can learn from ° The current federal hourly minimum wage and when this poster by skimming the it took effect. page and looking over the text features (headers, bolded text, ° Employee rights that deal with overtime pay, child labor, and tips. colored text, capitalization, images, etc.). This can give Note: The poster has a section called “Tip credit.” Explain to students practice in discerning students that under federal law, a tip credit basically allows what’s important about what employers to directly pay less than the federal minimum wage they’re about to read from how to workers who receive tips and use the tips to bring their pay it is visually organized. up to the federal minimum wage.

Individual or group work

§ Students can work individually or with a partner. § As they read the text in the poster, they’ll write a one-sentence summary for each section listed on their worksheet (in the “During reading” section): “Overtime pay,” “Child labor,” “Tip credit,” and “Additional information.”

° These four sections are most relevant to the students’ lives.

§ After they read, students should answer the reflection questions. § Students will visit two Department of Labor web resources to answer the “Digging deeper” questions. They’ll visit the https://www.dol.gov/whd/ minwage/america.htm webpage to find their state’s minimum wage laws and the https://www.youthrules.gov/know-the-limits/index.htm webpage to learn about the youth minimum wage.

Wrap-up

Bring students back together to discuss what they’ve learned about the minimum wage and employee rights.

4 of 6 Suggested next steps

Consider searching for other CFPB activities that address the topic of earning, including making money and getting paid.

Measuring student learning

Students’ responses can give you a sense of their understanding of the minimum wage, especially in the open-ended reflection questions.Keep in mind that students’ answers may vary. The important thing is for students to have reasonable justification for their answers.

This answer guide provides suggested answers for the “Exploring the minimum wage” worksheet.

5 of 6 Answer guide 1. Who is the author of this poster? Note: It doesn’t have to be a person; it can be an agency.

° The Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor.

During reading

2. Summarize the following four sections.

Text section Summary sentence: For each section, write a one-sentence summary.

Overtime pay (anything over 40 hours in a workweek) must be paid Overtime pay at a rate of at least 1½ times the regular rate.

Youth from 14 and older have different restrictions on employment Child labor depending on how old they are.

In some cases, employers can pay tipped workers a lower wage and Tip credit use tips to meet the federal minimum wage.

Some jobs and businesses don’t have to follow these laws, and some Additional information people (such as student apprentices and workers with disabilities) may legally get paid less than the minimum wage.

After reading

3. What did you learn from this poster about your ability to work and earn money?

° Answers will vary, but young people will likely focus on child labor and the fact that they may have a job that can pay them less than the minimum wage.

4. Visit https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm and check out your state’s minimum wage laws. What is your state’s current minimum wage? Is it higher or lower than federal minimum wage?

° Answers will vary.

5. Visit https://www.youthrules.gov/know-the-limits/index.htm and explore the rules for young people in different age groups.

° If you’re younger than 20, your employer can pay you the youth minimum wage. How much is that? $4.25 an hour ° How long can your employer pay you that amount? For the first 90 consecutive calendar days of employment

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