Glossary
Minimum wages
The lowest wage a state mandates for a category of work, now uniform across all employments under the Code on Wages, bounded below by the floor wage.
Minimum wages used to apply only to jobs listed in a state’s “scheduled employments” list under the old Minimum Wages Act. The Code on Wages extends coverage to all employment, removing that scheduling gap.
States still set their own rates, but none can go below the central floor wage, and most states review rates periodically for cost-of-living changes.
Why it matters now: some worker categories were previously outside scheduled employment, with no minimum-wage protection at all. Employers now need to check applicable state rates for those workers.