The True Effects Of A Living Wage

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

The world is filled with luxuries such as personal islands, gold-plated cars, or crystal pianos. What about everyday items like food, clothing, and shelter? Families in the United States can barely afford such items because of an American tragedy: the minimum wage. Though the sights and sounds of fluttering money is alluring, it is also elusive. The minimum wage is a tragic loss for the United States because it cannot even provide the bare minimum for employees working tirelessly for it. Opposition of raising it can be negated by statistics that show how the country can move into a brighter future. Data from economic research shows

Minimum wage has only been around in the United States (US) for a short period of time. Since 1938, the minimum wage has undergone many changes in its laws and regulations and has been raised to extreme amounts in some states. Today states must provide at least the equivalent minimum wage set by the federal government. Some states, however, chose to raise the minimum wage rate higher than that set by the federal government. In those states, the citizens will protest to get higher wages so that they can live more comfortably.

“Raise the wage!” reads many protestors’ signs across America. Many people believe this to be the answer to the financial inequality that plagues our country. The federal minimum wage was established to keep workers from settling on a poor living standard (Leonard A.11). Since this was passed, multiple debates and issues have risen. One begins to ask the question, is this truly the best way to resolve the unequal distribution of wealth? After research, it has been found that there are many drawbacks that are related to raising the minimum wage. Because of the number of harmful, detrimental, disadvantageous effects of increasing the base pay, the country should not continuously raise it.

In more recent history, one of the first local victories in the living wage movement took place in the early 1990s. In Baltimore, over fifty churches approached the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees to join in creating an organization of churches, labor union members, and low-wage service workers (William). The churches decided to join together for this cause because they saw first hand how low- wage workers were turning food stamps, publicly financed health care, and private assistance from churches. They saw an increase in the use of their soup kitchens and pantries by those who did, in fact, have a job. The churches concluded that minimum wage was not a just wage. This minimum wage no benefit jobs were no helping

As of 2009, the federal minimum wage established by U.S. Labor Law is of $7.25 per hour- income that is not enough to cover the expenses of an individual or family and therefore creates numerous economic and politic controversies. The inability to keep up with paying the bills and housing, spending money on healthcare and childcare- created a society of marginalized groups of people who face troubling barriers to opportunity and development. Consequently, a satisfactory standard of living can be achieved by implementing a living wage, which theoretically allows the employees to afford decent shelter, food, and other everyday essentials.

The City of Los Angeles passed a living wage ordinance that resulted in headaches for many employers. It also provided the opportunity for a number of potential plaintiffs to consider taking their employers to court for failing to provide said living wage (including overtime pay) that is required according to the new living wage ordinance as well as California labor laws pertaining to overtime pay in the state.

In this article, the author discusses the significance of living wages for workers in the US. The author explains that over the past decades, families have been unable to keep in stride with the cost of living, due to low income. While jobs are being created, they do not provide sufficient wages for many families. Additionally, due to the requirements of some federal assistance programs, individuals must accept these employments, regardless of pay. As the economy has grown, the wages remains the same and many minimum wage earners fall below the poverty line.

The minimum wage in the United States needs to be raised to a wage which American workers can live on. The current minimum wage leaves little room for everyday expenses. In this paper, I will argue that the minimum wage should be raised to a living wage. The minimum wage which Americans earn creates a financial gap between the employee and the employer. The need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage lies in the reason to reduce income inequality.

Workers from around the world no matter the culture, country, or type of job believe that increasing the minimum wage would solve individual financial problems. It is important to know that this subject is not a black-and-white problem and can not be answered by a simple yes or a no answer. This article will be focusing on the minimum wage in America. Furthermore, we are focusing on the State 's minimum wage rather the Federal minimum wage. It is important to understand that the state 's minimum wage is different than the Federal. In some states it may be higher or lower than the Federal, and other states in comparison. Although increasing a state 's minimum wage would have a positive effect on individual workers, it may have a negative and long-lasting effect on the state’s cities and its economy.

What is a living wage? “A living wage is one that allows families to meet their basic needs, without public assistance, and that provides them some ability to deal with emergencies and plan ahead” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014). The sole purpose of a living wage is to allow those fulltime and yearly employees/workers the means and ability to provide for their families (Clain 2012, p.315-27). This issue is not only begin debated here the United States but it is a concern around the world, whether the fair distribution of income, the level of wages and other factors are indeed affecting the standard of living for its citizens ( Clary). The minimum wage in 2014 was 24 percent below its 1968 level despite the fact that U.S. productivity more than doubled over that period and low-wage workers now have much more

Across the United States, many low skilled workers struggle to remain above the poverty line due to their small hourly wages. Some groups advocate for increased wages, but others oppose that idea because of the possibility of widespread job losses. Even though researchers have heavily analyzed the effects of a living wage in the past few years, experts claim that different kinds of studies are biased to support one viewpoint over the other. The articles “Living Wage Ordinances and Wages, Poverty, and Unemployment in US Cities,” by Benjamin Sosnaud, and “The Effects of Minimum Wages on Employment,” by David Neumark, analyze different studies about the effects of increasing the minimum wage to a living wage on a national scale. Neumark focuses his analysis mainly on different reasons why certain researchers are more biased than others. Sosnaud, on the other hand, takes studies from various cities with and without living wages from across the United States so he can compare them and draw his own conclusions about the true effects of raised wages. Even though Neumark’s points out how certain studies can be biased and invalid, Sosnaud’s evaluation of the issue based on a wide variety of research makes it very credible and gives readers a much clearer picture of nation-wide side effects.

“Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do, but it makes for good business”-Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco. Many of America’s employees are not being paid well, however, for the annual income of a full-time employee who works year-round is less than $16,000 (about $15, 080) according to the current federal minimum wage (Rebuilding). To put into retrospect how out-dated the federal minimum wage is, consider that the minimum wage of 1956 amounted to exactly $7.93 in 2009 (Henderson). How progressive is it that our nation’s workers being paid less today than workers from the 50’s? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to assist families out of poverty, to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers, and

The living wage movement is an economic reform movement that has become one of the most important public policy issues that has come up within the last 10 years. Although there is no single definition, it is often defined as an hourly salary that allows working families of four to have an income that is above the federal poverty line. This means that the livable wage laws often stipulate that hourly wages should be two to three times above the federal Mininum wage. However, unlike the Mininum wage, the living wage has so far only been enacted on the county and city level. Cities and counties enforce the living wage for companies that have contracts with their respective cities and counties, receive subsidies

Similarly, developed countries should start the legal system of “living wage” rather than minimum wage because any worker earning more than minimum wage does not mean he has a sound living. So developed countries should at least take the initiative and consider the system of living wage. The International Labor Organization (ILO) can pressurize all the developing economies to at least introduce the system of minimum wage that is sufficient to cover the subsistence level of living.