Minimum Wage Should Be Raised

To begin, there is an extensive debate over whether if the U.S were to raise minimum wage, could it really help the working poor of low income families. Nancy Cook, in her article from the National Journal, “Why a Minimum-Wage Hike Can’t Help the Poor”, she points out that two thirds of around 100 surveys from 2007 had a negative effect and that it does more for the middle class than the lower one. (p.14). So, therefore, from her

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.

minimum wages are struggling to live on a salary that is below the poverty threshold. In 2012, the U.S census posted that in a family of three; their income is 18,552, (U.S Census). In most case, one member of the family is working on a minimum wage salary which is below 18,552, (U.S. Dept. of Labor). It has been almost a five years since congress has raised the minimum wage (Huff Post). Throughout my argument, I will share my thoughts as wells as facts on why congress should agree to raise the minimum wage. We

“When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we 're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We 're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed” (Perez 2015). Minimum wage is a problem to America because some people cannot live off it and some people say businesses should not pay extra. Should the minimum wage be raised ? “A native of Detroit, Cecil Euseary, 52, moved to Holland, Michigan in 2007, after his mother died — he had to get out of town. He moved back to Detroit in 2014.He works at Burger King working minimum wage there. He can only get about 25 hours of work per week at Burger King. Cecil has been active in the "D15" campaign to increase the minimum wage in Detroit to $15 per hour. He once met with U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, when he was visiting Detroit. "It 's hard. If it weren 't for my god mom — this is her house; I get a room upstairs — if it weren 't for her, I don 't know what," Cecil says. "I 'd probably be out on the street, in a shelter." (Euseary 2014). The minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour because if you raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour it would lift people out of poverty, it would increase the federal purchasing power and not as many families struggling to make ends meet. Here’s another story, Enriqueta works as a housekeeper for minimum wage in the

To begin with, the minimum wage should be raised at least above 8.50 an hour. According to The US Department of Health, the current poverty level is 17,000 a year, which is about 8.50 an hour (Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism). The current minimum wage is 7.25 an hour, a full dollar and a quarter less than the current poverty level. With this, the average American is not able to afford the basic living standards that America herself has set. The need for a work force has been on the decline in America with cheaper sources of labor being created. Ironically, the unemployment payment an American can receive is in some

“No person can maximize the American Dream on the minimum wage” (Benjamin Todd Jealous). In 1938, minimum wage was created by the federal government in order to protect workers by ensuring a minimum of twenty-five cents per hour worked. Though President Roosevelt had the right idea in protecting the workforce, something needs to be done to ensure that Americans are getting a reasonable amount of money for the amount of hours they have worked. As Benjamin Todd Jealous stated, minimum wage is not enough for the average American to live on. Although many would argue against increasing minimum wage due to the possibility of heightening prices and intensifying competition, I believe minimum wage should be raised in order to stimulate the economy and create more job opportunities.

In today’s society, minimum wage is an issue. It’s whether or not it should be raised or

Taking a look at the problems facing Americans and how they live may have sprung up from the fact that the federal minimum wage is too low to support anyone, minimum wage is the lowest possible wage permitted by law or by a special agreement. In America, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour for an employer to pay their employees. Not enough to sustain a human, with regular daily functions, such as affording a roof over his or her head, and to put food on the table for them to eat. "A new study by the Organization of Economic Corporation and Development has found that the U.S. minimum wage lags most rich countries. As a share of median income, the U.S. minimum wage ranks 24th out of 25 rich countries"(TheRealNews). So America can stand to give more money to the common low-paid workers in America. Many people, who work for this pay per hour, suffer to support themselves and

Almost 3.3 out of 76 million workers in the US receive minimum wage (Source: BLS reports). Activists for raising the minimum wage claim that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 is the reason they are living in poverty, and that the wage must be raised for a better standard of living. Many people who take on minimum wage jobs are young and work in companies that don’t carry much prestige; however, they still take pride in their work and demand higher pay (BLS reports). On the other side of the issue, there are claims that raising the minimum wage will actually have more drawbacks than benefits such as hurting the economy (Opposing Viewpoints). The

A full-time, minimum-wage worker earns about $15,000 per year, which is below the federal poverty line for a worker with just one child. When there’s a significant gap between the wage floor and what it takes to live, not only do workers suffer, but good employers are penalized. Businesses that may want to pay a livable wage fear being cut by employers who pay less wages for even the slightest price advantage. One needs to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest-paid worker can afford their basic needs. An increase to $10.10 an hour as proposed by President Barack Obama would restore the wage floor to the same value it had in the 1960s. In doing so, it would lift earnings for nearly 28 million workers nationwide roughly 1 in 5 U.S. workers. Opponents claim that raising the wage floor will do more harm than good, forcing businesses to reduce staff, cut hours or hike prices.

Imagine trying to live off of minimum wage. Currently, that is only $7.25 an hour it is very difficult but millions of people worldwide do. That is why I am here, to raise the minimum wage. Even if we could get it up to “$10.10 an hour from $7.25 it would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” The Congressional Budget Office estimates. Imagine if we could raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour that would help lift A lot more people out of poverty.

Over 3 million American citizens work minimum wage to support their families and their homes. This isn’t an easy task, because minimum wage is below the poverty. Jobs paying minimum wage wasn’t nearly enough to support a family of even 2 people. If minimum wage was raised to say, 10$ an hour, it would be better than the current 8.50$ workers are being paid now. Minimum wage should be raised because people simply aren’t making enough money for their financial situations on minimum wage.

All across the country, workers are rallying together in order to raise their state’s minimum wage from as low as $7.25 per hour to $15.00 per hour. While many states already have a minimum wage well above the national requirement of $7.25 per hour, many Americans are claiming this is not enough to live off of. Also, many go as far as to claim that an increased minimum wage would actually boost the economy through the law of supply and demand, which states that an increase in the amount of money in the economy will, ultimately, increase the amount of output of the economy. While both of these may seem logical in theory, they couldn’t be farther from reality. An increase in minimum wage would lead to an increased unemployment rate, an increase in inflation, and an overall decrease in the productivity of the workforce.

Do you ever find yourself strolling through the grocery story, wanting to buy plenty of food for your family but finding that you can only afford a couple of things? This is a heart-breaking but very real scenario for parents trying to live off of minimum wage, as well as working full-time jobs. This is due to the fact of the minimum wage being low, and the price of living being high. Within the United States, many people who are in fact working full-time, cannot support themselves and their families; The solution is to put laws in place to raise the minimum wage.

“Raising the minimum wage does not reduce poverty” (Sherk, 2007) “Census data show most minimum wage workers are neither single mothers nor poor. In fact, poor single mothers comprise less than 5 percent of all minimum wage workers, and almost 55 percent already earn wage rates greater than $7.25 per hour, the new higher federal minimum wage rate” (Arlinda, 2007). According to Sherk (2007), the majority of poor Americans do not work at all, for any wage, so raising the minimum wage does not help them. The majority of people earning this minimum wage must be restaurant workers, unskilled laborers or entry level employees.