Minimum Wage And The Wage

What is minimum wage? It is the lowest amount that employers must pay their workers per hour of their labor, legally prescribed by federal government. According to Bureau of Labor Statics, United States Department of Labor, minimum wage was first introduced in United States by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1938 called Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). The initial minimum wage was set to $0.25 per hour in 1938 (Grossman). The minimum wage was increased twenty-two times from 1938 to 2009. At present, the federal minimum wage has not changed since 2009, and is fixed at $ 7.25 (U.S Department of Labor). The raise of minimum wage becomes a controversial topic among citizen, some people are in favor of raising the minimum wage, while

Workers from around the world no matter the culture, country, or type of job believe that increasing the minimum wage would solve individual financial problems. It is important to know that this subject is not a black-and-white problem and can not be answered by a simple yes or a no answer. This article will be focusing on the minimum wage in America. Furthermore, we are focusing on the State 's minimum wage rather the Federal minimum wage. It is important to understand that the state 's minimum wage is different than the Federal. In some states it may be higher or lower than the Federal, and other states in comparison. Although increasing a state 's minimum wage would have a positive effect on individual workers, it may have a negative and long-lasting effect on the state’s cities and its economy.

There are a lot of people around the world who struggle with money and a satisfactory way of life. Whether they be in the United States or across the globe, there is a standard minimum wage set for the working class of their country. In the Unites States, there is a federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty five cents per hour worked. Almost every state has another set minimum wage, which typically is a little higher than the federal minimum wage, but it cannot be lower than seven dollars and twenty five cents. Countries set minimum wage laws, to ensure there is a basic quality of life amongst its citizens. As the minimum wage goes up in certain states, the quality of life also improves. The problem with a higher minimum wage, is now people are getting paid higher for entry level jobs which are meant for teenagers and people new to the workforce. If the minimum wage keeps increasing across the country, teenagers and young adults will have a much more difficult time finding jobs.

The argument for minimum wage has remained remake consistent over the years. Some people are against minimum wage and the other think minimum wage can help you in a certain way. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Unites States federal government passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The law has been amended almost every year to expand coverage of the wage floor and to increase the wage itself. Many of the fifty states have enacted their own minimum wage laws, some of them set even higher than the federal level. Minimum wage jobs don’t only help adults at hard times it help teenagers and college students. I learned that the proponents for minimum wage believe the raw value of one’s labor to a business

These sweatshops employed women and children and paid them far less than a reasonable wage. The minimum wage was created to “help individuals or families achieve self-sufficiency, and, as a result, coverage of minimum wage laws was extended to men and to workers in most low-paid occupations,” (Neumark & Wascher, 2008). Throughout history minimum wage laws have been thought of as the right thing to do, but it is still uncertain if it is the correct way to achieve goals. Although the minimum wage debate had been going on for some time the very first federal wage law was passed in 1938 by Congress as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Moving forward, the next big event in the history of the minimum wage debate occurred in 1981 with the Minimum Wage Study Commission. This covered what was thought to be everything we as a country needed to know about minimum wage. Although some believed that there was still more to be known and in the mid-1990s, where it was found that “Minimum wages play an important role in youth labor markets…[and] the principal intent of the minimum wage [is] helping raise incomes of low-income families,” (Neumark & Wascher, 2008). For the most part, that is still where the debate lingers today, whether raising the minimum wage is the correct way of helping people live on reasonable salaries and what that means for young people working low-income jobs.

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

U.S. Congress passed the federal minimum wage law in 1938 as part of their Fair Labor Standards Act. Federal minimum wages were intended to ensure fair wages were paid to an alarming amount of women and youths employed and paid substandard wages. This also seems to be the case today, where countless Americans who work full time, cannot make ends meet by making minimum wage. Evidence shows that raising the minimum wage would drive consumer spending, thus producing faster macroeconomic growth. Wage stagnation is one of the key things holding back our economy from growing the way we need it to.

With the presidential elections right around the corner policy on minimum wage has come up for debate once again. William Hoar from The New American argues in his article “Misguided minimum wage mandate” that raising the minimum wage will only result in loss of jobs. According to the editorial board at USA Today, “ inflation adjusted income of the top 1 percent has grown by 58 percent and the remaining 99 percent has only grown by 6.4 percent”. They then state that a raise to 15 dollars an hour only comes out to an annual income of 30,000 a year. It is true that the majority of the minimum wage workforce is from ages 18 to 25 but considering the fact that that age group are the people attending college and paying off student loans, then it should be expected that they are unhappy with such a low salary. At the minimum wage of 7.25 that comes out to 1200 dollars per month for the cost of living. Therefore raising the minimum wage will not only increase morale, it will also reduce rates of poverty.

Even though having a minimum wage helps in many ways and keeps a minimum to what people can work for, it also can do some harm. The minimum wage law does cost the economy thousands of jobs. The essential principle of economics is supply and demand and the minimum wage aspect goes hand in hand with it. In the sense of labor, this means the amount of workers increases and wages increase, and the demand for employees by employers’ decreases as the wage increases. For instance, if an office cleaning job was publicized for hiring. If the wage was $90 per hour, many people would be interested in taking the job. However, if the income was $2 per hour, there most likely wouldn't be anyone to want the job. On the contrary, if the government obligated the owner to pay at least $9 per

“The minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage an employer can pay an employee for work. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour (part of the Fair Labor Standards Act) and some states and cities have raised their minimum wage even higher than that.” minimum wage was first introduced during the great depression in 1930s. Before it was introduced thousands of people were forced to work in horrible conditions for pennies a week. Early attempts on minimum wage was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S supreme court, because it restricted people from deciding what they wanted to pay their workers. So employers still made there workers, work in horrible condition through the great depression. Now that poverty is a huge national issue. President Franklin D. Roosevelt made sure he would protect workers it was part of his mission as the president of the united states of america. After being reelected in 1936 he signed the FLSA in 1938. Which put into place a national minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. After the law was passed the minimum wage was changed almost every couple of years because the cost of living is very high. In 1997 bill clinton allowed states to make there own minimum wage. Today the minimum wage is 7.25/hour there is continuing debate over whether that 's a fair amount of money to support someone there days. Labor activists want the government to raise it while other point out the negative effects it would have on the

The minimum wage was established in the United States by the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 at 25 cents per hour. These laws are broadly supported by the public. Congress enacted these rules to combat “labor conditions detrimental to the maintenance of the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and the general well-being of the workers” (Sharp, 2013 p. 71). The purpose and intent of

The minimum wage requires employers to pay their employees a minimum amount of money which is based on the current version of the law, which is raised every year to adjust the living costs. There are some advantages and

Minimum wage was established on October 24, 1938 after President Roosevelt signed the Fair Labor Standards Act. (Grossman) Minimum wage was set to allow working class citizens an opportunity to work a reasonable amount of hours for pay that would enable individuals to maintain a minimal quality life.

Minimum wage has many advantages from a microeconomic and macroeconomic standpoint. A key advantage is the idea that minimum wage allows workers to earn enough money to live on. Thus, it ultimately leads to a reduction in poverty. Another key advantage is that minimum wage can actually create jobs and grow the economy. This would happen by having more money flow through the economy, because then household spending will increase (ProCon.Org). Minimum wage also allows workers to support their families. Without a minimum wage, many families will not make as much money, therefore, it will be very difficult for the workers to support their families. Minimum wage also ultimately reduces taxes, because instead of indiviuals being unemployed and on public assistance, the person is working. This relieves the load of taxes on the state by not having people on different public assistances, such as food stamps and welfare (ProCon.Org). Another pro of minimum wage is that it is another incentive for high school workers to get in the door early of unemployment and gain experience. This can help them in get a job in the future(Root). The issue of minimum wage has an abundance of pros.

Minimum wage continues to increase, but does it increase enough? Minimum wage right now in Florida is set at $8.05 but who can really live off that. It is absurd that the minimum wage has not increase since the 1960’s in real buying power. The reason for this statement is that the minimum wage in the 1960’s allowed people to buy more items then they could buy with the minimum wage in 2013. In Order have the same buying power as in the 1960’s the minimum wage in 2013 would need to be at least $9.84 an hour. However, the minimum wage in 2013 was only at $7.25 an hour which was a 35.7 percent decrease of the buying power of an individual. The cost of living is continuously increasing. Bills, housing and everyday expenses continue to increase, which is making it impossible for people to live comfortably. The Minimum wage increase ties into chapter 8 Social Stratification and the U.S Class system in the Society in Focus book. Applying the conflict, functionalist and symbolic interactionist perspective to this chapter will help with further understanding the different aspects and causes with increasing minimum wage.