Minimum Wage and Poverty

Furman, Jason, and Sharon Parrot. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Viqi Wagner. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "A $7.25 Minimum Wage Would Be a Useful Step in Helping Working Families Escape Poverty." www.cbpp.org. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2015

Increasing minimum wage to ensure working parents are earning enough to meet the basic needs of their family, while improving access to safe and affordable housing and food can help reduce some of the negative health effects of child poverty (Sharma & Ford-Jones, 2015). Increasing the child tax benefit and gearing it to income can help ensure those with young children, who are in need, are getting the assistance they require (Collin, 2007). To address the impact poverty can have on a child’s readiness to learn, and therefore their success in school, and later in the employment market, the government needs to increase access to

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.

The U.S. is among the richest countries in the world today, yet millions of people in America still live below the poverty level. The number of Americans living in poverty is increasing day by day as well as the number of children. Poverty in America has become a great threat to children’s wellbeing as they are affected emotionally, socially, and even in their school performance (Wood 720). Poverty in America is mainly caused by lack of jobs. Many people who live in poverty in the United States is due to lack of jobs and getting jobs with minimum wage. Another cause of poverty is due to the rise in the cost of living. Poverty exists in America despite the fact that is among the richest nations in the world.

The controversy over what to establish as the official minimum wage in the United States has been debated and argued over for many years. Due to inflation, the gradual increase of pricings due to a saturation of printed currency, the minimum wage for workers has to be increased in order to compensate for the ever-fluctuating value of the U.S. Dollar. Many today are rising to the conclusion that a minimum wage of fifteen dollars an hour is necessary. This motion is designed to keep those who have minimum wage income out of poverty and to increase the amount of money in the consumer’s pocket overall. However, this particular increase in minimum wage will lead to the inevitable downfall of the United States’ economy and be a catastrophe for the working class.

Living in a nice home, a good neighborhood, and having nice cars is what most people think of as part of the American Dream. How are you supposed to get there though? Unless you're going to win the lottery you’re going to have to work in some form. Achieving the American Dream while earning minimum wage may take a person longer but it is still attainable. Through higher education or hard work individuals can achieve a higher standard of living.

More than 100 million Americans live near or below the federal poverty level and seventy percent of them are women and children. The rate of poverty is even higher in African-American and Latina single parent households where two out of every three children live in poverty. The fact is, the poorest among us are disproportionately women (Shriver). Current estimates are that women comprise approximately two-thirds of the minimum wage workers across America. With the minimum wage at its current rate, it is the women and children who suffer the most. With infrequent adjustments to the federal minimum wage, the current rate has left today’s

In the United States alone, the amount of people in poverty is 14.5%. That equates to 45.3 million people in 2013. In a country like America, one of the world’s superpowers, it’s embarrassing to admit. But the main issue is to fix issues like these with the minimum wage and welfare. The minimum wage applies to workers who got a job whether because they were in school or because they had not gone to college and had no other option. Most of the country lives off as minimum wage workers as only 1% of the world’s population has a college degree. Minimum wage needs to be adjusted to modern inflation. But the minimum wage allegedly does not affect poverty at all says a large demographic and does not need to be adjusted. The minimum wage makes up a lot of the country and should be adjusted or modified to today’s standard of living.

In summary rather than a minimum wage we should create a system where if you have a husband/wife/kids you get paid more than someone who doesn’t. This would hopefully get rid of the inequality in the U.S. thus allowing everyone to afford “good” food forcing farmers to stop putting chemicals in their products because of the low demand. Also I believe giving people an incentive to begin growing their own food would also help our environment greatly some examples of incentives for growing your own food tax reductions, you could sell your food to help fund your garden.

Currently more than 46 million people are impoverished. Poverty exists because the economic system is organized in ways that make the wealth, wealthier at one end and creates conditions that make poverty inevitable at the other. The economic system creates poverty in other ways such as the drive for profit. The economy will set value higher for competition. Competition motivates companies and management to gain control on cost. It makes it a common choice to move jobs from countries to countries where labor is cheaper and workers are neutral about working in poor conditions. Decision making also has terrible effects on millions and millions of people, families and communities. Having a full time job cannot guarantee of a decent income, which is why so many families depend on the two or more earnings from jobs or other adults just to make a living. Battling between work and families also brings a dilemma to families and decision making. For instance, divorce is increasing resulting in large numbers of single parent with families who have a hard time depending on themselves for taking care of their child or children and a living income. “A separate issue that contagiously attempts to measure trends in poverty and income levels more generally is difficult of measuring changes in the cost of living (Feldstein,

. Burkhauser found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective at lowering overall poverty rates or poverty rates among workers. Even by targeting populations that raising the minimum wage was supposed to protect, such as less educated single mothers, Burkhauser confirms that minimum wage increases did little to alleviate poverty for less educated single mothers as well. Additionally, David Neumark of the University of California-Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board analyzed family-specific flows in and out of poverty as a result of an uptick in the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher used current population survey data and found that when the minimum wage was increased some workers were lifted out of poverty, but others lost their jobs and found themselves in poverty as a result of raising the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher’s findings suggest that minimum wage hikes only redistribute income among the poor and near-poor households. Only junior high school dropouts seem

Over 45 million people liver in poverty in america, while the unemployment figures are are around 8 million. Should someone work full-time and still be within poverty? A minimum wage should be a decent livable wage and more than a bare subsistence. Increasing the minimal wage will fuel the economy, boost worker morale , and Increase the standard of living. The minimum wage must be increased to a livable wage.

Some say that money is the root of all evil, but at the same time, very few can argue against the fact that money makes the world go round. The United States is one of the wealthiest nations in the World, and while the economic situation in the United States is much better than that of China or India, money, or the lack thereof, is one of the biggest issues plaguing the Unites States of America. One of the key issues that have risen in recent times on the media is the widening wage gap between the rich and the poor, and the debate on whether or not an increase in minimum wage could solve the problem. While the whole nation would like to solve the issue of income inequality and minimum wage, the focus of this argumentative paper will be on the state of California. An increase in minimum wage should be adopted since everyone deserves to earn a livable age, especially when the reality of the economic situation in America points to the fact that the gap in income between the rich and the poor is greater than ever before. Some of the reasons why the minimum wage should be increased in California is because the minimum wage is not substantial enough to meet the living costs of California, there is plenty of wealth to go around for all to share, and the minimum wage has not kept up with the growing inflation and worker productivity. California in particular is quite an expensive place to live in so an increase in minimum wage is definitely needed.

The United States has maintained a minimum wage which was enacted since 1938. At the present time there is much political debate in regarding to increase the minimum wage to levels at the federal level, state, and local levels of government across this country. There are various theories regarding the minimum wage. Some believe it would circulate money into the economy faster which would negate and negative effects on employment, or even improve unemployment rates. Others point to the economic theory of supply and demand, and claim it will increase the unemployment rate. Both of these are simply theories and must be shown to have real life implications. Are moderate increases in the minimum wage above the equilibrium market rate an

Today we live in a society that tells us what and when we can do it, with the complex of living in the United States which is supposed to be the land of the free. The cost of living now these days have put those who only make minimum wage in poverty stricken situations, which now they have no choice but to depend on the government to live. We either have to lower the cost of living so that people can live a somewhat sustainable life, or raise the minimum wage so that we can afford the cost of living that is provided to us.