The Minimum Wage Should Be Raised

What kind of pay would you demand if you were expected to clean dirty toilets, pick up germy trash, and deal with customers who are nasty, rude and disrespectful to you while you are serving them? Would you do it for three dollars an hour? What about seven or eight dollars an hour? Well, many minimum wage jobs involve such duties as these. However, the minimum wage here in Illinois is only $8.25 per hour (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). In Indiana, the state where I work, it is a dollar less than that (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). The following information will discuss reasons why this wage should be increased and the benefits that accompany an increase for all of us regardless to whether we earn the minimum wage or a higher a wage.

The current minimum wage is $7.25, which equals two gallons of milk, one fast food meal or two gallons of gas. Can you imagine yourself working 12-hours a day and only having enough money to pay for rent and put food on the table for your family? With working all those long hours, you can barely afford to pay your utility bills and after that you don’t have enough money or time for luxuries like clothing or vacation. You have no savings as matter of fact, you are in a huge debt and you are living paycheck to paycheck. This is the story of millions of American worker, who are employed on minimum wage. The shocking part about this story is that million of Americans would be saved from this poverty life, if the American government raises the minimum wage. This would not only help the workers, but also the economy because raising the minimum wage would put extra money in the pocket of minimum wage worker and extra spending would help restore consumer spending.

Raising minimum wage has been a battle for many decades and it has always been a battle to raise it. Many families that work for a minimum wage job often have trouble making ends meet because making $8.75 just isn’t enough in this today’s economy. Some jobs are paying $2.13 an hour but this is mostly at restaurants that are family owned but if they don’t make enough on tips they must get paid $7.25 per hour they worked. Although minimum wage has changed dramatically since 1938 when it was $0.25 cents (Kurtz&Yellin) American families simply cannot live on minimum wage. Raising minimum wage should be raised to help families that need it the most.

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

Minimum wage should be raised since the living wage continues to rise. Minimum wage was established in 1938. President Franklin Roosevelt was the one to sign the Fair Labor Standards Act that established minimum wage.. The minimum wage boosted up in 1968 to one dollar and sixty cents.That would have been ten dollars and fifty-two cents in 2012.. In 1991, the minimum wage increased to four dollars and twenty-five cents an hour.. Then in 1997, it went up again to five dollars and fifteen cents an hour. The last time minimum wage was raised was in 2009 to seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. Minimum wage should be raised because of inflation, economic gap, and middle class support.

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.

Minimum wage is an ongoing debate in the United States. There are some people who think that it should be raised to a higher rate and others who think that it should not. There are many different pros and cons with raising minimum wage. Minimum wage is at a balanced rate that should not be raised due to lack of skill, low education, and economic problems.

This quote suggests that an important factor of a booming economy is the worker. A simple fact is that the more the worker makes, the more goes into the economy. Moreover, in President Obama’s State of the Union address back in 2013, he notes that raising the minimum wage means that “for businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets” (Luhby 1). This proposes that an increase in the minimum wage helps businesses as well as the worker. As of right now, American people whose sole income is through a minimum wage salary can barely afford to pay for basic needs such as groceries and rent. With not a dollar to spare, every single penny of their already small paycheck goes towards these basic necessities. With an increase in their salary, the more Americans making minimum wage can spend on things outside of their basic necessities, which would in turn help out businesses in America and contribute the economy of the country as a whole.

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

When people receive more money from a job and uses it to buy and pay for necessities, more money will be in circulation. More money in circulation will help to even out other payments and job owners will not be worried about paying workers. More money in the economy will also raise income. Raising the minimum wage might hurt the consumers as well, but it will be worth it in the long run since it might help more people improve their financial situation. It also makes more sense to raise the minimum wage because more than half of the fifty states have already raised their minimum wage higher than the federal limit (“Minimum Wage”). If raising it works for other states already, why not raise it higher for the whole

“Every penny makes a difference because low-wage workers make the choice between putting food on the table and paying for electricity or buying clothes for their children,” argues union official and author Beth Shulman. As society continues to grow our means of gathering necessities depletes. We begin choosing either higher education or no debt in the future. The very things we have worked for are simply taken from us all because of price and future impediments. To yield change the minimum wage should be raised to help families, boost the economy and fit the society we have now. The increase in inflation that fluctuates our economy and expenses needs to be adjusted to what the people have to give. However, there are some that seem to have the perspective that if we raise the wage it will cause more disputes. From yours truly I say “How bad could it be. We have to get worse before we can get better.”

Business is an occupation or profession of the purchase and the sale of goods, in which an attempt to make a profit. As a business can also be a person or corporation engaged in exchanges, manufacturing, or a service to seek profit. Every second the national debt continues to grow, the government feels raising the federal budget will make a difference, but it will not. If were sought to help alleviate the national debt my proposition would be to raise the minimum wage, which not only benefits the people, but it can the government as well.

I do not think the government should raise the minimum wage. The graph above shows the demand for McDonalds annually. Demand for McDonalds might go down due to increased prices which is no good for the business. They could be forced to hire fewer employees as a result and can lead to worse customer service. This would be even more detrimental to smaller businesses and make it tougher to find employment as a result. Inflation would be the biggest problem. Thus raising minimum wage could be rendered completely ineffective as many prices for goods would go up as a result. The argument that is often made that raising could make the wages more livable for the lower class. Due to increased/inflated prices this would not be the case. Smaller businesses

The term, “minimum wage” refers to a lowest payment that an employer is bound to pay to its workers. Today minimum wage is made compulsory in more than ninety percent of nations including Canada where workers are demanding to increase minimum wages for a long time. Minimum wages are revised by governments in order to met growing needs of workers. There is a difference of opinion on the issue of increasing minimum wages among people of Canada. Employers and employees also have difference views on the issue of increasing minimum wage. This paper intends to discuss the issue of minimum wage along with discussing pros and cons of increasing minimum wages.

The most prevalent and steadfast myth surrounding the raising of the federal minimum wage is that it will doom the economy. This might seem logical at first, but just think about it for a second. Why do minimum wage employees need more cash? The answer is simple: To spend it, to buy the things that they and their families need to survive. “Most minimum wage workers need this income to make ends meet and spend it quickly, boosting the economy. Research indicates that for every $1 added to the minimum wage, low-wage worker households spent an additional $2,800 the following year” (Fair). Furthermore, EPI estimates that if the federal minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour, it would result in over