Increase Minimum Wage Essay

There are many employees who find themselves working full-time for what the government has so generously termed the “minimum wage”. In Missouri, the minimum wage has been set at a rather appalling $7.65 per hour while in other states there are wages starting as high as $10. Though arguably the economy is not as sluggish and terrible as it once was, $7.65 per hour will not help those who have children, no college degree and debts to pay. It is not only Missouri that has minimum wage laws, but every other state in America has minimum wage laws in place. Both California and Seattle recently established a plan that would see their minimum wages rise to $15 by 2021. The question for all the other forty-eight states remains, should the minimum wage be raised?

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

. Burkhauser found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective at lowering overall poverty rates or poverty rates among workers. Even by targeting populations that raising the minimum wage was supposed to protect, such as less educated single mothers, Burkhauser confirms that minimum wage increases did little to alleviate poverty for less educated single mothers as well. Additionally, David Neumark of the University of California-Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board analyzed family-specific flows in and out of poverty as a result of an uptick in the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher used current population survey data and found that when the minimum wage was increased some workers were lifted out of poverty, but others lost their jobs and found themselves in poverty as a result of raising the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher’s findings suggest that minimum wage hikes only redistribute income among the poor and near-poor households. Only junior high school dropouts seem

Fair Labor Standards Act is a law that was established June 25, 1938 that made employers legally required to pay workers overtime for certain jobs. According to Department of Labor, “the set minimum, in 1938, hourly wage was at .25 cents at the maximum work week at 44 hours, which is $4.00 today. Now raising minimum wage has its positives and negatives. A few that caught my attention are economic growth.

Low minimum wages affects everyday families and lives, more than the average person would think. A small minimum wage could have an very small effect on someone’s life, such as not being able to afford a new pair of boots or that new phone, contradictory to this low wages could also have a very serious effect on someone’s life . Meaning that a parent or single individual could not support their family because a lack of income, it could also mean the difference of living under a safe roof, or living in the streets. In 2016 alone, 40.6 million people in the United States

In 2009 when the federal minimum wage was increased to $7.25 per hour, this is the last time that the minimum wage for Wisconsin was increased. I for one as a college student have a hard time paying for college only making around minimum wage. Other adults that have families and that are working for minimum wage have a much more difficult time providing for their families and paying for all of their expenses. In many cases some of them work two jobs just so their family can some extra money to do other activities. You have stated that helping people get careers that pay more than minimum wage is what you want to focus on, so there is no reason to increase the minimum wage for Wisconsin. I believe that the minimum wage in Wisconsin at this time is not high enough to pay for the average person’s lifestyle and should see a small increase to reduce the poverty in Wisconsin.

While it may be easier to say that the reason workers cannot support their families is that they do not work enough hours, full time workers working for minimum wage can also not afford to survive efficiently in this economy. The Times Editorial Board from the La Times states, “A full-time minimum-wage worker with one dependent barely makes enough today to stay above the federal poverty line of $15,510 a year. But most minimum-wage workers don't have the luxury of full-time positions.” If the government does not ensure that enough full time work is available for workers who need those hours to support their family, they should at least ensure that the minimum wage be enough to compensate for that lack of work. However, this is not currently the case. Between the low minimum wage and an already low amount of hours available to workers, the results are fewer positions that will allow people to comfortably support their

). Raising the minimum wage is an example of a price floor increase. There can be and are unwanted outcomes from this rise. This will be discussed in the first part of this paper. An example of a price ceiling is the regulation of rent by government to keep the rent artificially low. The second part of this paper will explore this.

With the U.S. Minimum wage of $7.25 per hour most U.S. citizens that make the minimum wage are living paycheck-to-paycheck and living off of food stamps and Medicaid. The minimum wage does not provide a living wage for most Americans. For example, an analysis of the living ,,compiling geographically specific expenditure data for food, childcare, healthcare, housing, transportation, and other basic necessities shows that, " the minimum wage does not provide a living wage for most American families. A typical family of four (2 working adults, 2 children) needs to work nearly two full-time jobs each (77-hours a week) to earn a living wage. A single parent with two children needs to work the equivalent of three and one-half full time jobs (139 hours a week),more than there are hours in five days, to earn the living wage on a minimum wage income" (Nadeau 1). It is impossible for single parents to make a living wage. The minimum wage for one person per year is sufficiently lower than the federal poverty level. For example, according to Sally Richard, the author of the book Raising the Minimum Wage Increase, "based on a year of fifty-two-weeks [the yearly salary for minimum wage earners] was $13,624, compared to the poverty level set for family of three $17,600" (Richard 2). The minimum wage should be raised because on average it only covers about half of the family's living wage! Many Americans are living in poverty because of this. Many people say minimum wage earners can "get by" with their salary if they didn't buy extra entertainment but they just can't pay for everything required for a family such as rent, water, food, electric, and other everyday expenses. For example, according to Carey Nadeau, author of " Minimum Wage: Can an Individual or a Family Live on It?", "For

Have you ever thought about feeding a family and paying the necessary bills on $7.25 per hour? If you answer “no,” then think about this. With this type of salary you could not cover your rent in most parts of the United States, much less feed your family. In this day and time this feat cannot be achieved without raising the minimum wage. If our current government does not raise the minimum wage than a person earning minimum wage would need to work two or three jobs just to keep up with inflation.

The federal minimum wage has been debated and questioned since it was created in 1938. In 2009 the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25. Barack Obama proposed it be increased to $10.10 per hour but was unsuccessful in his attempts. The working class has declared that it currently is not a liveable amount and are fighting to have it increased to $15 with a movement called #fightfor15. Workers believe that a higher minimum wage will create more jobs and boost the economy. There are many arguments that say minimum wage should or shouldn’t be increased. A value of $15 could do more harm than good. According to research, increasing the federal minimum wage to just $10.10 would provide a livable income for workers and boost the economy.

That a higher minimum wage will help create jobs and grow the economy; that the declining value of the minimum wage is one of the primary causes of wage inequality between low- and middle-income workers; and that a majority of Americans, including a slim majority of self-described conservatives, support increasing the minimum wage.

Our economy is affected by value of goods and services. Minimum wage is payment for minimum effort put forth by the individual to complete a task. If the Government were to raise minimum wage then there would be a increase the value of good and services, shortage of employment, and goods and service quality would decrease.

The idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the advantages and the disadvantages of increasing the minimum wage, but also the alternatives to increasing it.

If you can’t provide for yourself making the current minimum wage, then there is something wrong. Do the math, and don’t forget to include the new Obama Care required health care insurance that you will need to add to your monthly expenses, because most minimum wage jobs do not provide insurance. In the past, when minimum wage has been increased people making over minimum wage also received an increase. I was one of those people who received the raise the last three times minimum wage was raised. I was thrilled to be told by human resources, that I was getting another raise after I already received my yearly raise. Nevertheless, minimum wage has not been raised since 2005, here it is 2013, and the prices of goods has increased significantly in the last 3 years alone. The higher price in fuel has increased the cost of goods and services already, yet the current minimum wage has yet to increase. How are we supposed to provide for ourselves?