Should Minimum Wage Lift Millions Of Families Below The Poverty Line? Or Cause A Drop?

Jason Furman and Parrot Sharon explain why raising minimum wage will help families. The wage has to be elevated to just the point where a family can actually afford all the necessities they need in order to survive. The cost of living in houses for poor people makes it difficult for them to afford it and is difficult to stay on task with all the bills. Many minimum wage workers have families to support. The cost of raising children is very expensive. It is an average of $7,100 per year. Minimum wage workers can barely afford to pay child care for one child, let alone two. Increasing minimum wage will also make life easier to those who have food stamps and child care needs. Which can also help them get into college a lot faster so they can go out and pursue a better paying job.

When there are millions of Americans living at or below poverty lines, something has to be done. Billion dollar companies and businesses that employ workers, paying them low wages is hurting the economy. The reality is, unless the minimum wage is raised, the cycle will only continue. With higher minimum wages in place, the entire country does better and, therefore, should be raised. There needs to be laws put place to raise the minimum wage. Doing so would boost the economy with all of the money that Americans would put into it. With higher minimum wages, millions of Americans can get out of poverty, not having to rely on the government for assistance such as food stamps, public housing, child care, and health care needs. They can afford better housing options in which they want to live. Communities would see less crimes in neighborhoods creating a safer environment. Aside from that, Americans can afford a good education, health care, as well as healthier eating and exercising habits.

Raising the minimum wage is a very important public policy issue. Raising the minimum wage is a responsible policy that is supported by research and demanded by the American public. Each day, minimum wage workers across the country struggle to make ends meet and provide a decent life for their kids (Scott & Perez, 2016). Raising the minimum wage is a controversial issue, many believe that raising the minimum wage would only provide low wage workers more money to spend. However, the benefits can be endless for low wage workers. If minimum wage is increased across the United States it would afford the people effected more opportunities for financial freedom. Increasing the minimum wage would raise the standard of living for low wage workers, allow families to be removed from poverty, allow for government welfare spending to be reduced and lastly additional income being spent would positively affect the economy.

"According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25. The government should raise the minimum wage to $9.25 per hour. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest paid worker can afford their basic needs. Raising the minimum wage would strengthen the workforce and the economy.

Recently, the call to raise the Federal minimum wage has gotten stronger. Some states have taken the initiative recently to raise their state minimum wage above the federal guidelines. Currently someone who makes $7.25 an hour working full time under the Federal minimum wage earns $15,080 annually before any taxes are taken out. Critics of the proposal to increase federal minimum wage believe that increased labor costs force businesses to cut jobs to make up for the decrease in profit (Mejeur). However, others believe an increase in federal minimum wage to even $9 an hour would impact 700,000 workers in North Caroline alone and have a positive GDP (Gross Domestic Product) impact of $495 million, which would help to grow the economy nationwide (Schoenbach). The federal minimum wage should be raised so that adults would not need to rely on government assistance programs to live above the poverty line.

By raising the minimum wage millions of workers would see an improvement of their lives because they will finally have more money to be able to spend on themselves. In article one it talks through and states how “11 million workers above minimum wage will see and increase through “spillover”.” This shows that by increasing the minimum wage, workers that are already at that level would see a bonus within their pay. Another quote from article one is “the new minimum wage would affect families, disproportionally women who work 20 hours.” This shows that families, would be the first to feel the effect and also help families whose parents have to work overtime. In general, raising the minimum wage is very beneficial for families and female workers who work at or around 20 hours a week.

The real question everyone wants to know is, is the minimum wage going to increase or will it remain the same? Let 's go back in time to where it all started in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the minimum wage to twenty-five cents an hour. FDR had a great statement about minimum wage and it 's not for little kids. The statement proposes "no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in the country" (Olsen). This is the original thought behind what we now know, today, as minimum wage. The problem is that other salaries have risen exponentially and the minimum wage has remained stagnant and has not kept up with inflation.

Since 1938 the federal government for the United States of America has set the minimum wage. The laws were put in place to prevent employers from taking advantage of workers and paying a person less than the mandated amount per hour. At this point the minimum wage has not been increased since 2009 and it is only $7.25 per hour. This means that a person working full time will only gross $15,080 per year, an amount that is well below the poverty line. It is time to raise the minimum wage for several reasons: First, if you take in to account inflation, a person making minimum wage today is making less than a person who made minimum wage in 1968. The minimum wage in 1968 was equal to about $8.68 in 2016 dollars. Second, people earning a good wage is not only good for the worker and his or her family, it is good for society. And finally, raising the minimum wage will act as a stimulus for the economy.

Primarily raising the minimum wage will help families. “When businesses do not pay a living wage all society pays,” said U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce CEO Margot Dorfman. This was while she was signing an account by the national business leaders and small business owners from every state supporting the minimum wage upsurge voted for in 2007. “We pay through poverty and needless disease, disability and death from inadequate health care. We pay as women struggle to put food on the table. We pay as businesses and communities suffer economic decline.” Minimum wage is something

As published by Alison Doyle in “Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage”, “An increase in the minimum wage raises the standard of living for impoverished workers.” Furthermore, workers that make more than the minimum wage are also effected due in part to the ripple effect, which means that the rise of the minimum wage positively effects higher wage brackets. Katie Lobosco of CNN Money said in the article, Minimum wage hike could mean a raise for all, “As a result, the Economic Policy Institute estimates about 4.6 million workers will see their wages increased, 2.6 million of whom are directly affected as the new minimum wage exceeds their current hourly pay. The other 2 million already make slightly more than the new minimum wage but will benefit from the ripple effect. “ Employers will give valuable employees more money to stay competitive and retain those with valuable skills. people will not want to take job positions where they make almost the same amount as their subordinates. With everyone seeming getting more money the economy could flourish. Alison Doyle painted a great scenario in her article where “Additional income would be spent by consumers and would ripple through the economy if overall budgets for salary were increased under a gradual increase in the minimum wage scenario and Government expenses for social programs aimed at the poor would be reduced causing slightly lower taxes for other

The real question everyone wants to know is, is the minimum wage going to increase or will it remain the same? Let's go back in time to where it all started in 1938. President Franklin D. Roosevelt set the minimum wage to $0.25 cents an hour. FDR had a great statement about minimum wage and it's not for little kids. The statement proposes "is the amount of money a family can make in order to survive." Originally that was what the minimum wage was established as. Problem is, other salaries have risen exponentially and the minimum wage has remained stagment and has not kept up with inflation. With every new president there has been an increase in minimum wage, whether it was a big jump or just simply $1.50

Raising the minimum wage will stimulate the economy and improve the lives of low income workers, teenagers and college students.

If it was not for minimum wage then many unskilled workers would not be able to get a job due to the fact that business owners would only hire very skilled workers to complete a job because they're paying more money, so they would expected a perfect or “better” job being done. If the unskilled workers have a job then they will be able to pay bills, buy a house, car, and food. With the unskilled workers being able to work poverty will be reduced and many people will not

I would have to agree with many union workers, the minimum wage is way too low, which cause many people living on minimum wage attain debt. If the minimum wage is raised at least nationally to $10 much of the state’s debt can be relieved. If the minimum wage is raised people can pay off their debts, and reduce the dependence on financial help from

Contrary to these beliefs, I believe that raising the minimum wage will not only benefit the company and employee immensely, but overall increase the productivity of workers. The raising of the minimum wage will help these low income families support their families, which decreases the poverty level too.