 Floyd B. Olson of the Minnesota Farmer @-@ Labor Party was elected as the governor in the 1930 election . In his first term , he signed a bonding bill that authorized $ 15 million ( $ 210 million as of 2016 ) for highway construction , in an effort to provide work for the unemployed . He also signed an executive order that provided for a minimum wage of 45 cents per hour for up to 48 hours weekly . This effort predated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 that established a nationwide minimum wage . By 1932 , with the Depression worsening , the Farmer @-@ Labor Party platform was proposing a state income tax , a graduated tax on nationwide chain stores ( such as J.C. Penney and Sears , Roebuck and Company ) , low @-@ interest farm loans , and a state unemployment insurance program . The progressive 1933 legislative session saw a comprehensive response to the depression including a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures , a reduction in property taxes for farmers and homeowners , the state income tax , and chain store taxes , tavern reform , ratification of a child labor amendment , a state old @-@ age pension system , and steps toward preserving the area that later became the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness . 
