Those living in the United States of America are experiencing some economically dark times. Unemployment is becoming increasingly worse. Social programs are failing. Prices everywhere are on the rise as wages are declining drastically. Class division has never been more distinct. Of those lucky enough to have secured the multiple jobs needed in order to maintain their subsistent existences, most make only a minimum wage, established by their state’s laws, which is then harshly taxed upon. Life is hard enough in our dying superpower of a nation, but even worse for the work force of America that must survive on minimum wage. It is an offending disappointment that our fellow countrymen and women must live the way they do. This raises a …show more content…
Because payroll- and income-tax revenues would rise, the federal deficit would come down. Social Security worries would fade.” (James Galbraith.) In this manner, raising the minimum wage is a family friendly position, and families are the backbone of this nation.
There are also those who argue that the serious economic recovery we desperately need cannot occur until money is in the hands of the people. With more money to be made, the common, working people shall have the spending power necessary to pump life into the U.S. economy. Although there is plenty of wealth in America, for those who possess it, it is their tendency to hoard their wealth, or otherwise invest it. This stops the flow of money in the U.S. economy and further complicates the financial state of the nation. Just a few dollars more hourly could make dramatic improvements in the lives of the working poor. Every little bit helps to counter debt, inflation, and economic stagnation. It could be the move that brings an end to the recession.
Raising the minimum wage could help to protect workers from exploitation. It is a sad reality that employers take advantage of their workers and it is very commonplace to do so. Undercutting regulations, and human rights themselves, many use undocumented labor and otherwise shady business practice to get ahead. Not much is done to remedy this problem. A worker cannot easily escape this situation either. There are not many jobs, so each chance is
If the minimum wage was raised, I believe it would encourage businesses to be more creative on how to effectively utilize their staff and would push them to raise the bar in terms of employee training and business process. Perhaps businesses could be regulated in a way that those who have a higher net worth would be required to offer higher wages while younger or struggling businesses would have a lower wage expectations. That way we know that businesses who can afford it are paying it, but those who can’t aren’t being forces to close doors either.
Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.
Raising the minimum wage is a very important public policy issue. Raising the minimum wage is a responsible policy that is supported by research and demanded by the American public. Each day, minimum wage workers across the country struggle to make ends meet and provide a decent life for their kids (Scott & Perez, 2016). Raising the minimum wage is a controversial issue, many believe that raising the minimum wage would only provide low wage workers more money to spend. However, the benefits can be endless for low wage workers. If minimum wage is increased across the United States it would afford the people effected more opportunities for financial freedom. Increasing the minimum wage would raise the standard of living for low wage workers, allow families to be removed from poverty, allow for government welfare spending to be reduced and lastly additional income being spent would positively affect the economy.
With more family income, some people would choose to retire, go back to school, or have children, making it easier for others who need jobs to find them. “According to economist James Galbraith, raising the minimum wage would raise the incomes of 28 million Americans.”
The selling point that has brought people to the United States for centuries is the American dream: Prosperity, Luxury, Opportunity, and so on. Unfortunately for many, this dream has been squandered by the receding economy of an indebted country. As inflation runs rampant, the value of the U.S. dollar decreases, lowering the value of household and business incomes. This economic recession has led many, especially those who only earn the minimum wage, to poverty. According to the United States Department of Labor, “The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour” (“Wage and Hour Division”). Some people believe that a solution to this problem is to raise the minimum wage; however, doing so would ultimately result in a negative effect on the
The current minimum wage is $7.25, which equals two gallons of milk, one fast food meal or two gallons of gas. Can you imagine yourself working 12-hours a day and only having enough money to pay for rent and put food on the table for your family? With working all those long hours, you can barely afford to pay your utility bills and after that you don’t have enough money or time for luxuries like clothing or vacation. You have no savings as matter of fact, you are in a huge debt and you are living paycheck to paycheck. This is the story of millions of American worker, who are employed on minimum wage. The shocking part about this story is that million of Americans would be saved from this poverty life, if the American government raises the minimum wage. This would not only help the workers, but also the economy because raising the minimum wage would put extra money in the pocket of minimum wage worker and extra spending would help restore consumer spending.
Raising the minimum wage could help a lot of family in this country and the one that come here for a better a life that work hard to sent money for their family over the seas or try to get them here sometime they have two or three job cause they can't go school or have no time to cause they have to provide for their family, even family that were born her struggle to make a living in sometime need the government help, if they was getting pay for fair amount of money per hour they could've support their family more and live in a better environment
Raising the minimum wage would cause chaos throughout the work field with higher class workers. All the workers would be in a panic. Rushing to get a job, or struggling to keep theirs. One researcher reveals that “Raising the minimum wage will make lower-end jobs more attractive to people with greater education and skills who may not have considered them before at a lower pay scale. Those better-skilled and educated workers will outcompete unskilled workers for jobs, further worsening the poverty of the least-skilled workers and forcing them out of the labor pool” (Reisman). Based upon this research, Reisman states “making lower-end jobs more attractive” and yes this is common sense, would a worker prefer work an easy fast food job for 15$
Raising the minimum wage can result in job losses due to lower profits for businesses. It can also potentially decrease employee hours by changing them from full time to part time. Additionally, it may reduce the full time benefits that they receive. If this were to happen, then the employees affected will actually be earning less than they did before the increase. For example, from the Article Maximum Divide on Minimum Wage (Mejeur, 2014), they state, “Labor costs are the largest share of the budget Mandatory hourly wages mean that businesses will be forced to cut jobs or reduce hours to maintain their bottom line”. This shows that when businesses are forced to spend more money, they lose profits that could have helped create more jobs and company expansion. If they are tied back due to be forced to increase wages without economic justification, then companies in America will not be improving, but rather just surviving. Since the overall goal for most businesses is to improve profits and enlarge their businesses, it is safe to assume that, in order for companies to survive, that the minimum wage needs to stay the same unless there is viable economic justification to do so. Artificially being forced to increase the minimum wage due to a government sanction or mandate is ill advised. If an increase in wage needs to be implemented, then the government needs to create policies that aid economic expansion for companies to be able to afford it. These policies could
Raising minimum wage can solve the cause of inflammation of poverty. Raising minimum wage would lift more than 4 million Americans out of poverty. Number four(4) Says, nearly one in five children would see their parent get a raise. Action by states and cities show that lifting the minimum wage shortens poverty and increases wages. In the 1960s, the minimum wage was suitable to lift a family of three out of poverty. A full-time employee with two children earning the minimum wage will still raise his or her family in poverty. Raising the minimum wages could possibly increase the health and wellbeing of millions globally. Raising the minimum wage will also encourage consumer
First of all shouldn’t hard work be rewarded; well, money is the best way you can reward a hard worker. Imagine if all the teenagers went to work after school and instead of asking their parents for money. Raising minimum wage will make more teenagers want to work because they start out working for minimum wage, and if its high why not show up to work. Families would not struggle if everyone in house hold that was able to work did work. If companies had more money to give workers would not more people apply and even more stay. Many business would benefit from the raise of minimum wage also. States have constantly raised minimum wage and most of those occurrences the unemployment rate
Imagine you're a single mother working long hard back to back shifts every single day for only $7.25 an hour and still not have enough money at the end of the week to provide food or clothes for you and your kids. Or imagine you're in college Student have homework every night yet need a job to pay for your tuition at the end of the semester only make $7.25 an hour with limited work hours. Hard to pay for just your priorities with nearly an unlivable wage for even a person who is self reliat. A higher minimum wage could help working families, students, businesses, and our economy as a whole to recover.
The minimum wage should not be raised. Most Americans would more likely be in favor of increasing our current minimum wage. However, in reality increasing minimum wage can damage our economy. Increasing it would actually result in higher unemployment hurting low-skilled workers, will have little effect on reducing poverty, and increase to higher prices for consumers.
With more people getting jobs then the percent of unemployed would go down which causes the percent out of yearly income to go down. We would like to work to get unemployment percentage low enough so that only around 2% of yearly income goes to unemployment.
Putting more money into American pockets by increasing the minimum wage will not create a livable wage or raise people out of poverty. On the contrary, it will make goods and services more expensive. Requiring businesses to pay their employees more, increases the amount of capital it takes to generate their product or provide their service; therefore, businesses would be forced to charge more for their product or service to offset the cost of production. That being said, it becomes abundantly clear that an increase in the federal minimum wage would provide minimum wage workers with the same, if not less buying power, than they had before the increase to $15 an hour. Don’t believe so? The university of Washington conducted a study in July of 2016