Maximum wage laws existed long before minimum wage laws, though only the latter is around today. Minimum wage laws reduce the cost of discrimination, while maximum wage laws increase these costs. During WWII, the latter created a labour shortage requiring the employment of minorities and women. The former made the hiring of cheap labour by minorities illegal. Private industry has never discriminated as much as the government because where private companies take profits and losses seriously, the government doesn’t need to.

Minimum wage laws penalise the lowest skilled workers. These workers are often the people who were never allowed to upskill due to past discrimination. It also targets the young, who have yet to acquire the skills worth the lowest income necessitated by the minimum wage. Unions are big proponents of minimum wage laws precisely because they drive out minority workers as potential competition for their jobs. For example, the National Industry Recovery Act raised wage rates in the Southern textile industry by 70% in just five months. This cost African Americans an estimated half a million jobs. Concomitant with stricter minimum wage laws, the unemployment rate amongst minorities and teenagers has declined.