Should We Pay The Minimum Wage?

The reason of the fall in oil prices are the constant change of demand. The need for the oil is actually stagnant. Crude oil is becoming a product of the past. Today, you can harvest energy from solar, wind, water, heat, and waves. According to The Economist, “The use of fossil fuels in the rich world is mostly falling. Emerging economies are not currently taking up the slack”.

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.

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.

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

Raising minimum wages is a contestable issue because it is debated in wide and varied audiences. Minimum wage is near the top of economists’ interest; they are looking for the connection between low wages and poor job markets. Each country sets its own laws and regulations regarding wages. For this reason, it has significant importance to policy makers and workers in each of those respective countries. Social activists have also found interest in the topic due to the fact that those who earn a minimum wage tend to come from poor minority families. Furthermore, the average American should have the strongest interest in the conversation because most citizens have been paid a minimum wage at some point in their life. Due to this fact, the idea of a significant federal minimum wage increase in America is open for debate specifically to rejuvenate the job industry, improve living conditions for citizens, and strengthen the economy as a whole.

Should america raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour ? No america should not raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour for 3 reasons, the first reason is because of the potential to lose millions of jobs, the second is prices going up and the third and final reason is businesses closing down.

This paper will explore the pros and cons of raising the current minimum wage to $15.00. It will start with the history and reasons for the minimum wage. It will cite the positive aspects for raising it, as well as the negative consequences of that action. It will then touch on actual cases presently, within the U.S. economy. Finally, I will present my conclusion.

Should minimum wage in the United States increase? This is a challenging issue in politics today. According to Alan B. Krueger, the minimum wage, at the federal level is $7.25 and has been since 2009 (par. 1). State governments take it in their own hands and raise the minimum wage their selves (Krueger, par. 4). Congress is debating if it is necessary for the entire country to raise the minimum to $10.10 and eventually somewhere between $12.00 and $15.00 (Krueger, par. 2). But, there is an inconsistency in this topic; this is whether the minimum wage should stay the same or if it should be raised by the federal government. This inconsistency has to do with a small group in the United States that has authority over policy making, which is different

There is not one state in the US where a minimum wage worker can afford a two-bedroom unit at fair market rent, working a standard 40-hour work week(There are a few states where this is not true. Also, the fair market rent is the average cost. It doesn 't reflect the super expensive and bottom rent places). The federal minimum wage would be $10.86 [per hour] if it had kept up with inflation over the past 40 years. Instead, it is $7.25 [per hour]. Every state in the US should have the minimum wage raised to $10.86 per hour(passive, rewrite). The cost of living has increased(s) dramatically every year(,) so why shouldn’t we raise the minimum wage.(?) The value of the minimum wage has fallen by almost 50 cents since it was last increased in 1991(Fact check; the Federal minimum wage was raised in 2007 to 6.35 an hour, up from it 's 1991 rate of $5.15 per hour, and again in 2009 to $7.25 per hour). Living expenses are increasing so fast that more people are falling into the category of “lower class”. Author Tom Dickinson writes, “A family of four trying to live on the earning of a minimum-wage worker-- $15,080 a year—falls more than $8,000 below the poverty line” (Dickinson 33). (Transitional sentence?)

The topic on whether the minimum wage should be increased our untouched has been a hot topic in the media and political scene lately. Both the republicans and democrats have spent some big bucks lobbying their insights on the matter. There has been a lot of subjective and objective arguments that are reasonable on both the pros and cons of increasing our national minimum wage. To add to the drama associated with this topic, President Obama endorsed a bill proposing a nearly 40% rise from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The President has been campaigning around the country ever since his State of the Union address, pushing congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Many say this is too high due to the costs of enacting such an increase, and many say this is a little low due to the increased cost of living. After looking into both sides of this debate, I realize that overall it would be better for the well-being of our nation to increase the minimum wage due to the short term and long term costs that an increase of the minimum wage could lead to. In terms of helping out the lower class and poor citizens of the United States, increasing the minimum wage level is not the answer.

Donald Trump, the favorite candidate for this years election, recently claimed that wages are too high in America. One may wonder if he was lost in some sort of day dream or maybe he was talking about his own wages? As someone who has never had to worry about money, considering his families wealthy background, how would he possibly know what its like to live barely get by living off the federal minimum wage? Consider someone who is able to work a full time job being paid minimum wage, after taxes are taken out of their paycheck they would be looking at approximately a $13,000 salary per year. $12,000 is the poverty line in America for an individual. This is the life of a working class citizen in America. Constantly struggling to pay the bills and having to worry about how they are going to feed their children every week. The numbers show that minimum wage is clearly not sufficient to sustain a normal way of life and a raise would not only benefit millions of americans lives but also boost the economy.

Minimum wage is now at a steady $7.25 per hour and shows no sign of increasing anytime soon. There are states right now at the time that are trying to raise the minimum wage, and see how this will effect the economy of the area.

The government shouldn’t raise minimum wage because though you would get more money minimum wage jobs are temporary jobs and meant to be treated as such. Minimum wage wasn’t meant to be a salary to live on. Its purpose was to be a teenage job for high schoolers. If a company wants a good abundance of workers they have to have a good wage. If the salary is too low then less people will get those jobs and that place will either lose their business or raise wages. A job that provides minimum wage is a job to get a little spending money not a job to live off of. And increasing that wage only increases to cost of food and the necessities. Also raising minimum wage will raise taxes and big businesses will hide behind it taking it away and instead

In my opinion the federal minimum wage should be raised from its current rate of $7.25 per hour. It should be raised in set increments over time. Raising the wage would help to offset the rising prices of products we use in our everyday lives. The federal minimum wage should be raised to help people living in impoverished places. Raising the federal minimum wage is necessary, but it needs to be done in a way that it will help people and won’t harm the economy.

A large share of the higher income from minimum wages flows to higher-income families (David Neumark). “Other policies, that directly address low family income, such as the earned income tax credit, effective at reducing poverty” (David Neumark). Although people may think that increasing wages won’t do anything, they're wrong. The government should increase the minimum wage to reduce poverty, it helps hard working parents, children's education and unemployed insurance.