To keep the economy from fluctuating too far from equilibrium, the federal government sets minimum prices on goods and services. This tool known as floor pricing initializes a minimum wage at which workers can sell their labor to employers. Typically, the minimum wage depends on whether productivity increases or decreases. It also reflects inflation rates and the average income needed to achieve the standard of living. It is believed that living standards can be improved with a minimum wage; make the average level of comfort and self-sufficiency easily obtainable. With a minimum price on your paycheck, equality and fairness in the workplace are much more common. Workers in the same wage bracket do not have to struggle with unfair working conditions because during the 19th century the idea that the capitalist government should not have much say in affairs spread throughout Europe and the United States. Instead, it was thought that the economy had a natural order and would remain in equilibrium without federal intervention in prices and wages. History shows that this strategy made the economy more efficient in terms of how money was spent on people's personal interests. Fast forward to the twentieth century, when more liberal ideas about the separation of business and state became widespread, state-enforced acts and laws set standards for workers and employers. In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed, creating a minimum wage of $0.25 an hour. Now even overtime pay was a law. Then, in the early 2010s, nearly four and a half million workers received the national minimum wage (which was of course increased over the years to $7.25). While this seems like a large number of people, keep in mind that unemployment was at its highest level. in 2010 since before 1990. Therefore, there is a direct correlation between the increase in unemployment and the increase in minimum levels