Minimum Wage Should Be Raised

Introduction In 1938, the first national minimum wage laws in the United States were passed as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which served as “a floor below wages,” to reduce poverty and to ensure that economic growth is shared across the workforce. Today, many people who work for companies that pay at or near the minimum wage and remain near or below the poverty level rely on government health and food security and income programs to supplement their living expenses. Since 1938, there have been many additional policies to the Fair Labor Standards Act that have changed many things, such as increasing the national minimum wage numerous times to the currently salary level, which was set in 1997. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 was a policy to change the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three additions, which began in July of 2009. (http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/posters/minwagebwp.pdf)

In the United States, the minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate that employers may legally pay to workers. It is a price floor. The forbearer to the minimum wage can be traced to medieval England. In 1348, the Black Plague decimated the English people. This caused a serious labor shortage and caused wages to sky rocket. King Edward III was inclined to set a wage ceiling contained in the Ordinance of Labourers (1349). Mihm, S. (2013, September 5). How the Black Death Spawned the Minimum Wage. The laws were eventually used to set a living wage. In the U.S., mandatory minimum wages were first introduced nationally in 1938. Department of Labor (2014, April 17) Grossman, Jonathan. "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938: Maximum Struggle for a Minimum Wage". Many states also have

Sammer hassan Mr. S English 9 6/5/16 “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

From the article, what I have gathered that there has been a detailed deliberation and scrutiny of increasing minimum wages in order to alleviate poverty and increase the standard of living of a working class family. President Obama has been thoughtful enough to understand the plights of the majority of American citizens and

Imagine being a single mother of three. Now let's say someone didn’t finish high school because they were pregnant with their first child. They are also paid at minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour where they live. Would it be possible to live like that? 1.3 million people in

During the late 19th century, and even a few decades into the 20th century, American laborers worked intensely. They worked both many hours and with very little pay. The bosses of these workers would pay them as much or as little as they saw fit. It wasn’t up until the year 1938 that the federal minimum wage was established in America at $0.25 per hour (that being equal to about $4.21 now). It was one of the greatest things in America at that time. It was revolutionary as a matter of fact.

The minimum wage has always been a crucial part of American economics, being a hot topic for debate. Recently, the idea of increasing the minimum wage to $10 an hour has sparked a great deal of controversy. These debates have jumbled American politicians and citizens around, trying to decide what they believe is the best way to approach the topic. Most Americans believe that the minimum wage should be increased, according to Pew Research Center, 33% favor and 40% strongly favor this raise. This can cause problems for many people without them realizing the consequences. The increase in minimum wage to $10 an hour would be detrimental to the United States economy, if passed it would result in increase of costs for businesses, unbalance of the

How does an employer decide how much to pay his employees? Logically, he 'd want to reduce overhead costs by paying them as little as possible. Minimum wage laws exist to protect workers from being exploited by wages too low to live on, as well as in an effort to reduce poverty in society and it 's far-reaching consequences. Many states have laws that raise the minimum wage at the same rate as inflation, but the federal government does not (Whitaker 634). The value of a new minimum wage begins to fall from the moment it is set. Because the costs of living are always rising, it is a hardship on those who must rely on wages which constantly degrade in value to meet these costs. The federal minimum wage, $7.25, has become too little for anyone to live on, especially without public assistance. The federal minimum wage has lagged further and further behind inflation over the last forty years (Covert). The minimum wage should be raised to a living wage for the entire country and set to index with inflation. As the cost of living increases, the wages paid to employees to cover that cost also needs to be regulated to increase in order to address income inequality and bureaucratic oversight; additionally, recent analysis shows that there would likely be modest benefits to the economy in the event of a modest federal minimum wage hike.

In 1938, a federal minimum wage was established through a law called the Fair Labor Standards Act. It was part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. This was also the first time that employers were legally required

Minimum Wage in America In 1930 the United States passed a federal law controlling minimum wage. This has led to random increases in minimum wages. For more than a century minimum wage has been a key factor in public policy. Minimum wages were first used to prove against the idea of American factories being “sweatshops” (Josh Barro 01). Over time the minimum wage level has risen and fallen do to the progress of the economy. The amount of money earned from a minimum wage salary today is thought to not be enough to live a regular life (. "Four States Vote to Raise Minimum Wage." 01).

Should minimum wage be increased? The minimum wage should be increased depending on each state. Some states are more expensive to live in such as Washington and New York. The minimum wage should barely stay the same or increase in non-expensive areas. There are many different reasons to increase or decrease the minimum wage.

Minimum wage always seems like a topic of conversation in the media. As of now, the current set minimum wage has been claimed as not being a livable wage, therefore there has been an outcry to raise it. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to what that may do

Over the course of my seventeen years of life, I have gradually come to realize, as a species, we humans have lost something. I do not know when we lost it; maybe we never even had it. I had my first suspicions when I was young, and I learned from

Fighting For Fifteen In America, the current minimum wage sits at $7.25 an hour, but as the cost of living has gone up, the amount paid to some of America’s hardest workers has not. This has left many people working several minimum wage jobs in order to try and get by. This struggle to make it paycheck to paycheck has created an incredibly large economic gap between the rich and poor, something that has largely contributed to the fight for fifteen. With many Americans sitting in the low to middle class demographic, there is plenty of outcry and support for the minimum wage to be raised from $7.25 an hour to anywhere from $10.10 to $15 an hour depending on the city and that city’s specific cost of living. This issue, as most issues do, has pinned many people against each other; some are all for this much needed raise in minimum wage, after all, this raise would help out most of America’s workers. On the other hand however, the consequences of this drastic raise can only be speculated about since worker’s pay hasn’t really been messed with since the late sixties. While there are good points in favor of raising minimum wage such as, allowing people to live more comfortably, and getting people off of public assistance programs, there are also the negative aspects about this pending public policy. Some of these cons are a raise in prices, a loss of jobs or hours, and the cutting out of young teenage workers from the job force. Many cities plan on raising minimum wage over the

II. Income guarantee schemes in United States As the strongest developed country in the world, United States had legislated minimum wage to guarantee income for workers in early time. Minimum wage is an efficient tool to improve labor market in history. However, the first country legislated minimum wage is New Zealand that was enforced by compulsory arbitration (Verrill, 1915:105). United States legisted minimum wage system with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and set the federal minimum wage is $0.25 per hour. The 1938 Act was applicable generally to employees engaged in interstate commerce or in the production of goods for interstate commerce (US Department of Labor, 2009). Then the minimum wage level increases several times because of productivity improvement and increasing inflation rate. The federal government has to update the minimum wage level frequently. In 1961, there was new policy extended coverage primarily to employees in large retail and service enterprises as well as to local transit, construction, and gasoline service station employees (US Department of Labor, 2009). In 1966, the labor system