Put An End To Poverty, Increase The Minimum Wage Essay

In the United States, the cost of living for a single adult with no children is an average of $28,474 every year (Career Trends, screen 1). This seems like a relatively low number, until the amount of people living together increases. A family of six, two adults and four children, rises to an annual cost of $82,900 (Career Trends, screen1). If an adult were to work full-time at minimum wage, they would only be getting $15,080 per year from their employer (University of California, screen 1). This amount of money is still about $14,000 short of how much it costs a single adult to live. In recent discussions of minimum wage, many people argue about whether it should be raised or not. Although the intentions to raise it are good, the outcome

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

McDonalds, Wal-Mart, and cleaning services: all of these have one thing in common-they are all minimum wage jobs. Their pay is low and work load high, and because of this living as a low wageworker is never easy. One must handle many hardships in order to make a few meager dollars, with which most cannot sufficiently live. 'The 'living wage' in the United States is between $9-10.18; sounds great to a college student, but in the real world this kind of money just isn't going to cut it,' (Ramisch). Minimum wage standards for American workers rest at $5.15 per hour, and in such slighted fields, very few make much more than that, perhaps $6-7, but even that is a rarity. The material life of a low-income employee includes bare necessities

Americans that are living pay check by pay are struggling to pay their bills every month, of these, most of them earn only minimum wage which is “$ 7 .25” Epstein, R, & Bedford, K. (2014) , p,3. Working full time, 40 hours a week and 52 week a year. The average Americans that are working minimum wage jobs are providing for families on a full time salary which is not enough to pay for the hose hold bills and proved for every day necessities; this forces them to find a second job. In 1996 the number of people holding two or more jobs averaged Barabara Ehrenreich (2011) “7.8 million or 6.2 percent in the workforce” (p.45). According to Michelle Conlin a senior writer and editor of the Working Life Department and Aaron Bemstein a senior writer on Workplace and social issues, 63% of United States families below the federal poverty line have one or more job. More than a “third are 18-25- year old” Conlin, M., & Bemstein, A. (2007), p, 2, who are trying to work their way up the ladder with little to no help. In today’s society more than “28 million people” Conlin, M., & Bemstein, A, (2007), p, 2, which is about a quarter of the workforce between the ages of “18 and 64, earn less than $9.04 an hour” Conlin, M., & Bemstein,A. (2007), p, 2. This is well below what most American’s would consider a decent stander of living. The increase in the cost of living means parents earning the national minimum wage struggle to support families. Raising the rent for apartment and houses are

Almost 8 million Americans work full time and still fall below the poverty line. Some argue that raising the minimum wage will only benefit the workers who may not need it. This argument is flawed, according to The Economic Policy Institute’s analysis, which shows that “most of the low wage workers live in low-wage households, and 84% of the workers in low-wage jobs are at least 20 years old.” (LA Times, Stern and Camden). In my point of view, anyone that shows up to work regularly and puts in quality hours should be

states “if all we do is raise the minimum wage, I'll worry we're missing a chance to lift people out of poverty for good, and that a few years from now, we'll be having this same conversation — again” (148).

today’s dollars. Simple arithmetic shows that the answer to that question is no. A full time

$7.25 equals two gallons of gas, one fast food meal, or a simple school supply. With the minimum wage at the current rate you must work one hour to earn the seven dollars and twenty-five cents that only supply you with small necessities for everyday living. This problem was encountered before and was resolved with the agreement to higher the minimum wage from $5.85 to the current $7.25. Although that was a big increase in salaries, was it truly enough? This controversy can lead to a major change in everyone’s everyday lives and boost our economy to a period of prosperity. The minimum wage should be increased to bring our economy out of a recession, bring families together,

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.

Today, more than 28 million people, about a quarter of the workforce between the ages of 18 and 64, earn less than $9.04 an hour, which equals into a full-time salary of $18,800 a year (Conlin). There is an equally troubling yet more often overlooked problem among the nation's working poor-for some, the raises come in dimes

A movement to increase the federally mandated minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 has been gaining momentum across the nation in recent months. Although the Senate struck down a bill that would have made the idea a law this past April, studies conducted by top economists and governmental agencies are finding it to be highly beneficial in practice. It has been over five years since the last change in the federal minimum wage, and the government needs to make adjustments for the modern economy. It should take action towards setting the new minimum wage to $10.10, even if in small steps.

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

Minimum wage is currently a very heavily debated topic. Many are in favor of raising the current national minimum wage of $7.25 to a more livable wage; suggestions for this increase are anywhere between $9-15 per hour. While the minimum wage has been raised several times throughout the years, it has not been kept proportional to raises in inflation which has led to a decrease in the amount of goods that people are able to buy with those wages, in turn making their economic lives more difficult. Those that are trying to live and survive off of minimum wage are naturally most concerned with this issue as it greatly impacts their life and well-being, however, it is also an issue that concerns the whole nation as raising the minimum wage could end up in higher tax rates or higher prices by way of inflation.

Now this time, I will not insult your intelligence. You know I’m not suggesting any more frivolous ideas. These numbers command far too much respect to joke around, and represent the most astonishing facts about American poverty of all. Last year a mere .2% of national news mentioned the issue of poverty in America, children living below the poverty line increased

Households are not captivating as much as they need for their respective sustenance of needs. In Rolph’s (2012) summary article outlining wages versus prices, and he claims the economy supposedly gained 163,000 jobs in July 2012, and for those Americans lucky enough to have work, it may not be enough. Incomes have risen over time from the 1970’s, but not at the same rate that the Consumer Price Index has. As reported by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2014 in Poverty USA (2014), 47 million people lived in poverty, which means the poverty rate for 2014 was 15%. The year before the 2008 recession, poverty rate had an increase of 2.3% by 2014 (Poverty USA, 2014). As many Americans fluctuate around the poverty line during several recessions over the