Minimum Wage Or Overtime Pay For The Working Adults And Employed Youths

“A 15 percent increase in the minimum wage nationwide would destroy about 290,000 to 590,000 young people's jobs, and about 400,000 to 800,000 jobs overall” (Henderson, David R). Due to the Fair labor Standards act, the federal minimum wage, or the lowest you can pay an employee for work, currently stands at $7.25 an hour. Although a number of Americans think that raising the minimum wage would benefit our country, it would actually bring a number of problems to our economy, such as a rise in job loss and high school dropout.

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.

In 1938 congress instituted minimum wage with 25 cents an hour being the first wage. After 78 years seven dollars has been the increase of minimum wage, stated by the article listed on, Heritage.org . Every year the cost of living and surviving in this country increases. You would think after 78 years, minimum wage would not be at $7.25. Many college students work part-time jobs that pays minimum wage to have some extra cash in their pockets or pay a few minor bills. Having a part time job is perfectly fine in college, but imagine not being in college, working a minimum wage job. Lets be honest, the pay checks are no where near what you would like them to be or it isn 't enough to cover everything that you want or need. So, imagine not being in college, working a full time job, with rent, children, car note, insurance, and etc. Many adults work minimum wage jobs, barely making it to provide for themselves and their kids. Your probably thinking, "maybe those people should go back to school or look for a better job.” Yes, that is true but for most people, its too late. A better job requires a degree, most people have kids and cant afford to take a couple of hours off or get someone to watch their kids while they attend school, so a minimum wage job is the only option. So, to make a better life for the struggling parents and the needy college students, increasing the minimum wage is a must for various reasons which include decreasing poverty, increasing health, and relieving

On June 16, 1933, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt announced a plan to help raise the United States out of the Great Depression. At the heart of this plan was the idea that wages must be set and fair. “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.”(Roosevelt) This plan became the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set the Federal Minimum wage. Minimum wage has increased, slowly, over the years, but has not kept up with its intended purpose. Raising the federal minimum wage to a "fair living wage" level will improve the lives of the working poor, without adverse economic consequences.

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.

"According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25. The government should raise the minimum wage to $9.25 per hour. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest paid worker can afford their basic needs. Raising the minimum wage would strengthen the workforce and the economy.

Minimum wage is an important and hot topic throughout the world, especially America. The minimum wage is the lowest amount of salary that an employer can give to their employees for their work. The federal minimum wage is covered under the Fair Labor Standards Act, also known as FLSA. The FLSA covers standards for government, local, and state employees, including overtime pay and record keeping. This protects the rights of the employers. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR, was the first president to establish the idea of minimum wage in 1938 due to the economic downfall of the Great Depression. (“History of Minimum Wage”) The Great Depression was a huge recession for the economy and for the people. Since FDR applied the minimum wage, the minimum wage keeps increasing over the years. According to Bebusinnessed website, the first year with minimum started at twenty-five cents an hour, which is equal to around four dollars and fifteen cents in USD in present currency (“History of Minimum Wage”). Over time and many presidents later, in 2016, our lowest minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty-five cents. From the numbers presented on this website, the minimum wage seems to be increasing and getting better with time, but in fact, the government is not to kept up with the current “real” dollar amount. Nowadays, parent employees cannot fully support their children. The real question, in our society, should minimum wage be increased or decreased in order to fulfill both the government

For many years, there has been an ongoing and strong debate in the United States on whether or not minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour to over $10.00 an hour. Minimum wage is the lowest amount a company or employer can pay their employees. Many argue that the benefits of raising minimum wage surpass the negatives, yet many also disagree. But as a whole, the benefits of a higher minimum wage clearly outweigh the costs that come with it. Minimum wage should be raised because it would increase economic activity, reduce poverty levels, and allow for less government spending.

Should minimum wage be increased? Passage one strongly supports and gives details on why minimum wage should be raised. Many workers are asking for a national minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, while others say that a higher minimum wage will stifle business and ultimately hurt the economy. So, should the minimum wage be increased or not? The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was initially set at $0.25 per hour and has been increased by Congress 22 times, most recently in 2009 when it went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. 29 states plus the District of Columbia (DC) have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage. 2,561,000 workers earn the federal minimum wage or below.

The topic on whether the minimum wage should be increased our untouched has been a hot topic in the media and political scene lately. Both the republicans and democrats have spent some big bucks lobbying their insights on the matter. There has been a lot of subjective and objective arguments that are reasonable on both the pros and cons of increasing our national minimum wage. To add to the drama associated with this topic, President Obama endorsed a bill proposing a nearly 40% rise from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The President has been campaigning around the country ever since his State of the Union address, pushing congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Many say this is too high due to the costs of enacting such an increase, and many say this is a little low due to the increased cost of living. After looking into both sides of this debate, I realize that overall it would be better for the well-being of our nation to increase the minimum wage due to the short term and long term costs that an increase of the minimum wage could lead to. In terms of helping out the lower class and poor citizens of the United States, increasing the minimum wage level is not the answer.

The minimum wage in the United States has been an ongoing controversy for many years now. The first minimum wage was established in 1938 (Reich, 2015, P. 3). That minimum wage started out at .25 cents an hour; compared to today’s higher wage of a government standard of $7.25 an hour. Many people believe that the minimum wage should be more so that those who live below the poverty level in the United States will decrease, however in many other people’s opinions the minimum wage should be the same. The minimum wage should stay the same at a low $7.25.

First, the number of working parents in a single or two-parent household is increasing. Nowadays, usually both parents work in a two-parent household and the single parent works in a single-parent household. This law allows for the unity of the family structure. Another reason is that parents should be able to take some time off to spend with their newborn children. It is crucial that a baby be reared by his/her own parents so that the child can have a proper development. Also, if there is an ill family member, the employee should have a right to take time off to care for that ill member. One important issue was that people should not be forced to choose between their family or their job. A family is something very precious and should not be given up for anything. However, to provide for the family one needs to have a job to have income. One should not have to pick one or the other. This law allows the individual to keep both and not have to choose. By enacting this law, Congress relieved some of these issues of the family structure and job security.

Raising the pay of one’s workers is proven to increase productivity in the workplace: Worker productivity increased 104% while the minimum wage rose 101% between 1947 and 1973 (Henderson). Common sense also plays a role here. If you were being paid a penny an hour when you really deserve a quarter an hour, would you work your hardest? Would you begin your work enthusiastically at full-throttle? No, you wouldn’t, and the second you saw a better opportunity at another place of employment, you would jump to it. Why should you feel loyal towards a job or company which does not pay you enough to live? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers.

The idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the advantages and the disadvantages of increasing the minimum wage, but also the alternatives to increasing it.

Congress enacted the federal minimum wage in 1938, during the Great Depression. Congress had two goals; keeping workers away from poverty and boosting consumer spending for economic recovery. Today, there is a debate, whether we should increase the minimum wage again. Increasing the minimum wage is useful for several reasons. First, the current minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation. Second, a higher income level reduces employee turnover and increases efficiency and ultimately, raising the minimum wage does not reduce employment. Even with high unemployment rates, the minimum wage is useful for the economy.