<P> By the 1920s, a new perspective was offered by reformers to emphasize the usefulness of family allowance targeted at low - income families was the best way to relieve poverty without distorting the labour market . The trade unions and the Labour Party adopted this view . In 1945, family allowances were introduced; minimum wages faded from view . Talk resumed in the 1970s, but in the 1980s the Thatcher administration made it clear it would not accept a national minimum wage . Finally, with the return of Labour, the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 set a minimum of ₤ 3.60 per hour, with lower rates for younger workers . It largely affected workers in high turnover service industries such as fast food restaurants, and members of ethnic minorities . </P> <P> In 1912, the state of Massachusetts, United States, set minimum wages for women and children, and some states enacted similar protective laws . Under the Massachusetts laws, there was "the power only to investigate conditions and recommend changes". </P> <Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td_colspan="3">--President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933, Statement on National Industrial Recovery Act . </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> "</Td> <Td> It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country . </Td> <Td>" </Td> </Tr>

When did the minimum wage start in the uk