Minimum Wage Should Be Raised

What kind of pay would you demand if you were expected to clean dirty toilets, pick up germy trash, and deal with customers who are nasty, rude and disrespectful to you while you are serving them? Would you do it for three dollars an hour? What about seven or eight dollars an hour? Well, many minimum wage jobs involve such duties as these. However, the minimum wage here in Illinois is only $8.25 per hour (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). In Indiana, the state where I work, it is a dollar less than that (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). The following information will discuss reasons why this wage should be increased and the benefits that accompany an increase for all of us regardless to whether we earn the minimum wage or a higher a wage.

Minimum wage has always been a controversial issue. Many politicians use the argument of minimum wage for their own political propaganda. Some may argue minimum wage should be raised, while others believe it will have detrimental effects on our economy if it is raised. Surprising to most people, minimum wage earners make up only a small percent of American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers make up about 2.8% of all workers in America. “The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These are high school and college students” (Sherk 2). But high school and college students are not the entire percentage of minimum wage earners. When minimum

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.

We are arguably living in the aftereffects of a country that reached its heights of Capitalism during the Industrialization era. Prior to the introduction of machinery and railroad systems to America, the economical framework relied on a warped version of lasseiz-faire and featured wealthy descendants of British merchants who joined the colonies. Others worked menial jobs and apprenticeships to guarantee their source of income and it is safe to say that many were unhappy with their predicament --- even if they had no platform to voice this opinion. While the Industrialization Era introduced centuries of wealth to America, it also severely tipped the wealth distribution scale which can be seen extremely in events like the multiple depressions of the 19th Century and recessions in the 20th Century. In a 2013 statistic, researchers found that 53.5% of people despise their jobs. If you ask around, you 'll find that many overqualified Americans are still working menial jobs to provide for their families and that even office jobs are not that promising in terms of salary. The wealth cap for most of these citizens is around $60k~ and many, many Americans are living in poverty. There seems to be a socio-economical propaganda that is being spewed around for many years that many workers of minimum wage are lazy, entitled teenagers who have nothing better to do than sit around and collect

Minimum wage is a highly controversial topic in the U.S. everyone would like to be paid a little bit more but do people even stop for a second and think about the consequences of raising pay. Economic failure, poverty increase, housing price increase, layoff increase, and hour decrease. There are also many more terrible things that are country can't handle if we were to raise the minimum wage.

This is due to the ultimate purpose of minimum wage, the fear of unemployment, and inflation. Mike Patton states, “After all, the minimum wage was never intended to be a career salary, but rather a stepping stone to bigger and better things” (par. 2). This means minimum wage was only supposed to help people who are starting off. Eventually, Congress predicted they would be promoted or move to a higher paying job with the experience they earned. Today, there are not many minimum wage workers coming from families in poverty (“History and Debate of Minimum Wage,” par. 5). Most of these workers are young, who still have support from their parents or other family members. These young workers fit the image Congress had in mind when creating minimum

In today's society it's expensive to live in America and even getting day by day is very difficult if you are living on minimum wage, of course it's more difficult for some people than others depending on their situation and their living conditions. America should raise minimum wage because it would make things easier for people who are struggling. A higher minimum wage not only increases workers’ incomes, it will also be good for our economy. A quarter of people working minimum wage are at least raising one child. This change will help a lot of people it would make our country a better place.

What if a 16 year old was making $18,000 a year after taxes, working only 25 hours a week? Most likely you would expect that teenager to have a pretty prestigious job at such a young age. However that is not the case, if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour, a 16 year old could make $18,000 yearly working only 25 hours a week at McDonalds. Now for teenagers that have goals for college or a car, that would money to set aside for the future, however most 16 year olds do not have those goals in mind yet, so that extra money turns into wasted money. As of February 2016 the minimum wage ranges anywhere from $7.25-$10 across the United States. Florida’s rate is at $8.05 an hour, however some believe the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour in all states(Raise).” People working in minimum wage jobs may feel as if this $7 bump would be a great advantage to them, but there are possible negative results of doing this too. As a manager of a restaurant where employees start at minimum wage, I can only imagine the effects our company would feel. Raising the minimum wage is not the solution to helping people out of poverty , I feel it will only be enabling them to stay in the same position they are in and give less motivation for teens to further their generation. Increasing the minimum wage will harm businesses and will decrease the motivation to get a further education.

Raising the minimum wage is a false idea that millions of Americans have; people believe it will put more money in their pocket and will be making more money than he or she is now. This is a wrong accusation to make. The people wanting to raise the minimum wage is the people of lower income levels. If the government raises the minimum wage, the cost of living is going to go up, guaranteed. Many people think that raising the minimum wage will help kids pay for school, when this actually encourages them to drop out early in the pursuit of money.

Minimum wage is at a drastically low number. It has been 9 years since the last raise in 2009. The minimum wage is way to low for people to live off of. Minimum wage is essential for businesses to have a starting pay that is enough for people to be able to provide for themselves and their family. America needs to make a stand to raise the wage. The minimum wage needs to be raised in order for people to provide for themselves, for the US to keep up with other world leaders, and in doing so it will only better the economy.

This paper gives an insight on the debate whether the minimum wage should be raised to $10 an hour or not in the United States. There is a big debate in the United States regarding as to whether the minimum wage should be raised to $10 per hour, but before we go into details of the debate lets first understand what is meant by a minimum wage and how did it come into existence. A minimum wage is the lowest wage that is paid to workers by their employers, and the government legally sets it. A minimum wage is a price floor, workers are not allowed to sale their services below price, and the government legally sets the price (Neumark et al 2008). Although the minimum wage is put into effect in jurisdictions, there exist different opinions

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.

To begin with, minimum wage should be raised so that adults can afford apartments. A report from the National Low Income Housing stated, “ In no state can an individual working a typical 40-hour week at the federal minimum wage afford a one- or two- bedroom apartment for his or her family.” People working with a minimum wage of $10 to $13 can’t afford an apartment for themselves. This leads to homelessness. The effect of this is rising poverty rates. People can't afford much, let alone an apartment, and will go into poverty and homelessness. Clearly, minimum wage should be raised so that people can afford apartments.

The question that ponders many people’s minds is whether the federal minimum wage should be increased or not. The current U.S. minimum wage is $7.50 and this wage has not increased since 2009. Families with minimum income wages are suffering due to the fact that they cannot provide everyday needs for their families. This is the reason why many people are rioting. They are frustrated with the government’s nonchalant attitude towards the hard situations in which they are living in. A final decision must be made about this topic because at this rate people’s purchasing power will diminish while inflation will keep occurring. The federal minimum wage needs to be raised in order to help improve the living conditions of poor families, increase the economy’s stability, and decrease the unemployment rate. However, some people believe that increasing the minimum wage will cause small or large businesses to fire some of their employees because they are not able to pay everyone the same wage. This will stop economic growth causing an opposite effect than what was intended. These people need to realize that increasing the minimum wage will create more positive effects rather than negative effects. The federal minimum wage need to increase to at least $10 so families are able to keep up with inflation and the cost of living.

The government shouldnt raise minimum wage because though you would get more money minimum wage jobs are temporary jobs and meant to be treated as such. The minimum wage was never designed to be a "living wage" it was for all intent and purpose to be a safeguard against legalized slavery. If a company wants decent workers they will pay a decent wage. If the jobs are too low paying no one will want them and it will force the rates to be increased. Also if the rates are too low it will also discourage illegal immigration which we all know is a problem. A minimum wage job is a starting point not a career. And continuously increasing that wage only raises the costs of all goods and those earning that minimum wage will have their income