Minimum Wage : The United States Alone Essay

Right now,according to Victoria Smith,over 40 million people are living in poverty. This could be changed if they were able to get enough money from their jobs, but the minimum wage isn’t high enough right now. Even if only by a little, if minimum wage were raised, the amount of people living in poverty could be reduced by at least 5 million according to Mike Konczal . Originally, the minimum wage was at only .25 cents an hour. Due to causes such as inflation, this wage has been raised to meet the current standard. Although interest in raising the wage has gone away until recently. Minimum wage should be increased because it would increase job growth and economic activity,it would reduce government spending on welfare, and reduce poverty.

The minimum wage is not suitable for society because it is too low and due to this, employees tend to overwork with more than one job, which leads them to not be available for their families enough, and they are unable to make progress with this wage

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.

The minimum wage is one of the most controversial issues on our country, which is United States has been facing last ten years. There have been never ending debates over this issue until the government, company, and others party stand together, and raise the minimum wage throughout the nations. There are communities that believe raise the minimum wage has negative impact of every sector of the country. Other communities have different beliefs over the issue, raising the minimum wage helps the poor people, and would help not hurt our economy.

The selling point that has brought people to the United States for centuries is the American dream: Prosperity, Luxury, Opportunity, and so on. Unfortunately for many, this dream has been squandered by the receding economy of an indebted country. As inflation runs rampant, the value of the U.S. dollar decreases, lowering the value of household and business incomes. This economic recession has led many, especially those who only earn the minimum wage, to poverty. According to the United States Department of Labor, “The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour” (“Wage and Hour Division”). Some people believe that a solution to this problem is to raise the minimum wage; however, doing so would ultimately result in a negative effect on the

The minimum wage is the mandated price floor paid on hourly or daily basis for the employees regulated by the government or the union. In “Federal Minimum Wage”, New Zealand and Australia enacted the first minimum wage law during the late 19th century to prevent employers’ exploitation of workers. In 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the US that was enforced for women and children, and fifteen more states followed in the next eleven years. However, the Supreme Court abolished the minimum wage laws in 1923 because the laws violated the women and employers’ Fifth Amendment or their right to negotiate a binding agreement without government interference. In the US, the first federal minimum wage law passed 25 cents per hour as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to help struggling workers during the Great Depression (“Federal Minimum Wage”). Since 1938, the minimum wage law has increased twenty-two times to $7.25 to keep pace with inflation. However, minimum wage laws have exemptions in some field of works such as tipped employee who earns $2.13 an hour in direct wages if the amount plus the tips received is at least the mandated minimum wage. In addition, agricultural workers earn their salaries by the number of bags or weight multiplied by the crops’ selling price (“Minimum Wage and Overtime Basics”).

For example, many people believe that it would act as an economic stimulus for the country. If the minimum wage were to increase, that would allow for people to have more money, and in turn they would spend more money at businesses, boosting the nations economy.20 However, it would also benefit the government by decreasing the amount of people enrolled in government programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.21 As stated in an article published in Congressional Digest, “The President’s plan strengthens the middle class by making America a magnet for jobs, equipping every American with the skills they need to do those jobs, and ensuring hard work leads to a decent living,”22 this, directly relating to a statement the President made in his State

House Bill 230, or the most recent bill introduced in North Carolina to increase minimum wage, was introduced by the House of Representatives on March 12, 2015. After the first version of the Bill was introduced, it was revised once. The bill was introduced because the goal of the state is to provide a minimum wage that allows for a decent and healthy life for its citizens. As the value of the American dollar continues to change, so does the average cost of living. The primary sponsors of the Bill were Representatives Farmer-Butterfield, L. Hall, Fisher, and Cunningham. The Bill states that “Employers shall pay employees wages no less than the minimum wage for all hours worked in North Carolina.” It then states that minimum wage in North

Poverty is a humongous problem in the United States. 43.1 million people in the United States are living below the defined poverty line. Even worse, 15 million of those people are children. And we don’t offer any kind of relief. 70% of people born in a lower income household stay there for their entire lives. This isn’t happening because they are lazy, nor because they are complacent in their position. Some of these individuals are working two, three jobs in an attempt to stay afloat. Even with this work ethic, they stay in poverty, because they aren’t being properly compensated for their work. Working full time on the current minimum wage yields 15,080 before taxes, not enough to keep a family of two out of poverty. This means that a single

Charles Darwin once wrote, “If the misery of the poor be caused not by the laws of nature, but by our institutions, great is our sin.” And one of the key institutes of the modern economy, the minimum wage, could dramatically reduce the misery of the poor, however, I feel that while raising the minimum wage is a necessity to help those people make a living wage, I deeply feel it is a sneaky way for the government to raise revenue (basically on the backs of the poor). The government says it will do nothing but help the poor, but in actually, it makes the poor pay more in taxes because he is earning more money. But the sneaky government will get more money! Furthermore, there will ALWAYS be a level of poverty. Even if we raised the minimum wage

The national minimum wage was introduced in the UK in April 1999 by the Labour government. Essentially it formed a major part of their manifesto as it convinced the average population that Labour were beneficial for everybody. However, they would argue against classical economics and suggest there are wide spread benefits to be gained. The main argument is that the NMW would alleviate poverty across the country.

A question plaguing economists in the news the last couple of years is what would the effect of an increase in the fast food industry minimum wage be for the workforce. Better yet, how would it effect the fast food industry itself. There have been certain areas of the country that have already increased fast food workers minimum wage, but the debate is would it work elsewhere. With the increase in the demand from fast food workers for a minimum wage increase it has spurred on a heated debate what the outcome would be with many believing that it would devastate the fast food workforce with a large increase in workforce reduction enabling the fast food industry to keep it’s ever growing profit margin. However, there are those that would disagree with that assessment. The problem that is seen is that both sides of this issue forget to take a step back and look at the whole picture like the smaller group of economists have that understand that there is positive and negatives to the fast food industry minimum wage increase. Also, with a look at the bigger picture it can be seen that with the minimum wage increase in fast food jobs is farther reaching than just the fast food industry. It will unavoidably affect many other industries across the U.S. with a demand for a nationwide federal minimum wage increase as the fast food industry has laid the ground work for the “how to” guide for adjusting to a 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.

Every year, there is a constant debate on whether the minimum wage should be raised or left alone. Some economists believe raising the wage will reduce poverty and fix income inequality. The main argument for a minimum wage increase is centered around human rights and fairness. This ties into the income inequality where highly paid workers earn multiple times that of low wage workers. Since the low wage workers earn significantly less, they cannot afford all necessities such as healthcare, housing, food, and other social needs therefore they’re seen as a threat to social inclusion(Romich, 2). However, if the minimum wage was increased, more money would be put in the pockets of the

Minimum wage is the lowest wage an employer can pay their employees. There is a Federal minimum wage and in some cases a State Minimum wage. The current Federal minimum wage is $7.25. An employee who makes $7.25 an hour and works 40 hours a week, will earn about $14,000 per year. The Federal government deemed that the poverty line is anyone who makes less than $17,000 a year (“Federal Minimum”). Therefore anyone that makes minimum wage lives below the poverty line. As president Obama said in his state of address, "In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty” (“Federal Minimum”). This essay will examine the problem of low minimum wage and explore ways to resolve this issue.