Benefits Of A Living Wage

Living wage is a level of income that enable workers to afford basic necessity of life like shelter, food, health care and education. This is to afford any one that work full-time to live above poverty line, avoid homelessness and hunger; it’s meant to just meet basic necessities and provide buffer against emergencies or improve quality of life. It’s however disheartening to note that this basic wage has continue to be a dream for most workers in this country today; even as the companies or entities they work for makes record profits. Opponent of national living wage had cited possible job loss, capital flight in this era of globalization of capitalism, and natural forces of market as reason why implementing national living wage is a bad policy that would make the

Intro: People of the middle class all know that the minimum wage of $7.25 is not sufficient to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. There is considerable evidence to show that the current generations comfortable lifestyles require a more luxurious price for standard living. The cost of living over the years has dramatically increased due to high consumer demands of products. As that being said, $7.25 is just not enough for a happy lifestyle, food, and the bills. There are many jobs that dislike or just can't afford paying high wages. Therefore, many employers hire less to save money. This causes a non-sufficient pay rate for comfortable living and high unemployment

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

One of the arguments that is used quite frequently for those in favor of minimum wage is that everyone deserves a wage that people can survive on. No one can give a good reason as to why people should have to live in poverty while working one or multiple jobs. “In

In addition, an expanding conversation about how to end working poverty through decent jobs points out that is to not only important to make minimum wage, but an adequate living wage. For instance, the Raise The Minimum Wage Campain noted, “The minimum wage should be set 10% above the poverty line, using the Low Income Measure”. Unionization employees that get paid above minimum wage feel more comfortable and satisfied with their job, which indicates that they are less likely to resign from their duties. With skilled workers in greater demand, their job opportunities and their

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 14% of the nation lives below the poverty line, the current population is 326,474,013, and 45,706,362 of the population lives in poverty every single day. One of the reasons why such a large chunk of the population is in poverty is because they are not being paid a reasonable salary for them to support themselves and their families. Raising the minimum wage can lead to problems, but gradual increases are made over time, it could be beneficial for millions of people around the nation. The positive effects of raising minimum wage is what makes it worth it. A raise in minimum wage can be beneficial; however, it must be a

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

The increase of minimum wage could lead to a better quality of life. Many had lived barely paying for the minimal necessities such as shelter, food, water, clothes, etc. The topic of

In the United States of America, federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. This is an issue, nation wide because the price of living is increasing, while the pay has not. Teenagers are not the only people that are getting paid this amount, adults that are considered the “bread winners” are too, and struggling with it. Supposing that the living wage was increased, the cost of living would be more manageable, and less stressful for many. Hundreds of thousands of people are living in poverty, since they are making the bare minimum and unable to support themselves or their family. If federal minimum wage was increased significantly, then people working forty hours per week would be well above the poverty line, and able to support themselves, easily.

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.

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 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

2. A livable wage covers expenses such as food, clothing, transportation, and healthcare, and child care. In a 2015

     If there were a support system in place to truly help those who are in poverty and cannot support themselves and their families, then perhaps the population could attempt to do better for themselves. Given real opportunities instead of self-serving token attempts from the rich, those in poverty may have a chance to break the generational cycle that poverty and the threat of homelessness creates. The jobs in this new service-based economy often do not allow for a living wage; that is, a salary that

With more family income, some people would choose to retire, go back to school, or have children, making it easier for others who need jobs to find them. “According to economist James Galbraith, raising the minimum wage would raise the incomes of 28 million Americans.”