Minimum Wage Analysis

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.

I have read the letter on $10 minimum wage, and would have to disagree with your statement. We have jobs that pay $7.25 an hour to teach kids how to work, not support a family. These jobs offer people little money when there out of a job, but while they work with little money, they need to be looking for a better job. You don’t want to be working at McDonalds your whole life, right? That’s why there are jobs like accounting, teachers, repair shops, etc. These jobs are going to support a family and they usually pay better than a fast food restaurant paying $7.25 an hour.

As a result of the Great Depression, in 1938, the federal minimum wage was put into effect as a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The government established the federal minimum wage to ensure that employers were not underpaying their employees, and many states also have set other varying minimum wages as well based on the cost of living in those particular areas. According to the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, “The federal minimum wage ranged from a low of $3.09 in 1948 to a high of $8.67 an hour in 1968” (Pye, “No we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage”). Also, according to the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, “The historical average minimum wage was $6.60” (Pye, “No we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage”). Many supporters of raising the minimum wage want to increase our current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour, which is more than double the average, more than twice the current, and almost twice as much as the all-time high minimum wage. James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics, concluded the following from his research: “Congress typically raises the minimum wage only

The federal minimum wage in the United States is currently $7.25 an hour. Increasing the minimum wage would lift approximately 900,000 people out of poverty. Forty-three million Americans are living in poverty due to low income, health care costs, childcare costs, college costs, and housing costs. The federal minimum wage should be raised because it keeps up with inflation and would scale down poverty levels.

Presently, the citizens of the United States of America are involved in an impassioned debate over the federal minimum wage. As of October 5, 2016, the federal minimum wage is set at seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. There are numerous amounts of stakeholders when it comes to minimum wage. The three stakeholders mentioned in this essay will be Companies, Employees, and the Economy. In addition to the stakeholders, this essay will also dig into the history of the United States Federal Minimum Wage and see how it has progressed over the years and if it kept up with inflation over the years. With this information, society will see what an increase to the federal minimum wage will have on the United States economy and labor force.

In response to many businesses paying their workers the smallest amount possible, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country”. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the president of the United States during the Great Depression and through his New Deal, which incorporated the first federal minimum wage, he strengthened the economy. In 1938 the minimum wage was only 25 cents but this was a much more livable wage compared to what many large companies were previously paying (“The New Deal”). The minimum wage has been raised twenty-two times since then, and it

Millions of Americans live in poverty unable to find high paying jobs to support themselves and their families. A common belief is that paying a higher minimum wage would help lift people out of poverty by giving those with low paying jobs a higher income, however the evidence suggests otherwise. The 2016 race to the White House heating up, the minimum wage battle is at the forefront of every economic discussion. The rhetoric between candidates within and across party lines is intensifying. Many differing opinions are being heard. As the debate over whether or not to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $15/hour rages on, one side stands apart time and time again.

The current federal minimum wage is too low to allow people to earn a living wage and has failed to keep up with increases in inflation, productivity and economic growth in recent years. Wages have been fixed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, resulting in a 40 hour work week that allows one to earn only $15,000 a year, an amount that lies just barely above the poverty line (13). If the worker is responsible for children and works full-time to earn this amount, they drop below the poverty line. These low

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

In 1938, the Federal Government established a minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act, during the Great Depression. Its stated purpose was to keep American workers out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power to help stimulate the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt, understood that the minimum wage should be a living wage, he stated “by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of a decent living.” Today, the Minimum wage is critical for ensuring that hard work is rewarded with fair pay. However, its value has eroded substantially, factors such as inflation and rising prices are decreasing its purchasing power, and the minimum wage is no longer what it used to be, despite decades of economic growth. Today, a family can no longer live on minimum wage; and a single person working full time on minimum wage is barely above the poverty line. When President Obama gave his 2013 State of the Union address, he advocated raising minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10-yet a year later, this still hasn’t happened. For many working Americans a higher minimum wage will make the difference between living in poverty or not, furthermore it provides a stepping stone into the middle class for many families. If the minimum wage is increased to equal a current living wage, the income inequality gap will decrease and the quality of life for those living on minimum wage salaries will increase,

In this paper, I will be exploring the changes that will occur with the raise in minimum wage. There will be a focus on how the minimum wage increase affects the ability of people to survive on this wage, the effect of the minimum wage on government programs, and how the wage increase will affect businesses and their employees. At this moment, I do support having a higher minimum wage, but I do understand many of the problems that could occur with the raise in the minimum wage.

Each year that the minimum wage figures stay stagnated at a specific number in nominal dollars, the reality of inflation slowly bites in as its real value is gradually adjusted and in the long run minimum wage earners are left with payments that cannot sum up or fulfill their household and other personal needs. On analysis of this fact, it is evident that the well-being and living standards of minimum wage workers is highly threatened especially for those people who have families and in this earning bracket. Currently, at a minimum wage rate of $7.25 per hour on a full time basis does not necessarily negate to the fact that they get to cross the estimated government poverty line on an all rounded annual basis. Comparing the current status and the 1960s value rates, the wage income is not enough to cater for the needs of a woman together with her family simply

The standard minimum wage level has been a controversy over its insufficient wages set for working class Americans. The minimum wage was established to protect unskilled workers from being exploited by employers’ low pay. Introducing the minimum wage provided stabilization in the workplace, but as the cost of living increases, working Americans are demanding a livable wage. In the recent past, the American dream fadedness changed the way Americans view the economy. For many wageworkers, the American dream is becoming less of a possibility as corporations minimize the chances for the poor working class to obtain the dream. However, raising the federal minimum wage will likely result in higher prices for the middle and lower classes because

Per the Wage and hour Division, in April 1990 minimum wage was $3.80. Prior to that the first minimum was a mere $0.25 in October 1938. As the cost of living and families increased so didn’t the wages to support these expenses. Jumping forward to the next minimum wage increase was in July 2007 to $5.85. Ultimately in a mere decade we only went up $.70/hour. Yet, here we are in 2017 (again another 10 years later) and we want to increase it by $1.75 this year, then another $1.00 the next year (bringing the total to $10.00), and then by 2020 (three years away) to a grand total of $12.00 per hour (“Minimum Wage Increase, Question 4.(2016))”! We are a ‘get rich with minimal work’ society. I will admit that I am a woman that wants minimal work and

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