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.
In 2013, 3.3 million Americans worked at an hourly rate at or below the federal minimum of $7.25. Those3.3 million of Americans represent just 4.3 percent of hourly paid employees (Pathe) Raising minimum wage to 12 dollars an hour could reduce the welfare spending by at least 17 Billion dollars. There are at least $1,117 billion dollars in welfare, including $716 billion for Medicaid, and $411 billion in other welfare services (Chantrill). Several families in the US are working for a minimum wage job and often need help weather its Food stamps, or getting paid by the government. There are 43 Million Americans on food stamps (Pflaum)
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I worked a minimum wage job for 6 days and I did 8 hours shifts and only got 193 dollars. I personally think minimum wage workers don’t get paid enough for what they do. They deal with unpleasant costumers. They are constantly cussing at you. Some people has told me stories where they even got food thrown in their face because the grill workers made a simple
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
For example there is a big gap in the amount people get paid in the state in Nebraska, where the tipped wage is $2.13 and the general wage is $9.00 an hour. It is also unfair because in other states like Montana, Nevada and California have little to no gaps, this means that these states are being payed the same amount in tipped wage and general minimum wage.
Many American workers will benefit from raising the minimum wage. 35 million workers, which is more than one in four, are receiving the minimum wage. 30 percent of percent of African American workers, 38 percent of Hispanic workers, and 15.5 million working men receive the minimum wage. These people would all benefit greatly from raising the minimum wage. It is a myth that people who receive minimum wage are working teenagers in fast-food. 89 percent of minimum-wage workers are 20 years old or older. 27.7 percent of minimum-wage workers have children, and may have trouble supporting their children with such a low income. It is also a myth that minimum-wage workers are high school graduates only or high school drop outs. 45 percent of minimum-wage
People in society must work in order to make a living, whether they have a highly skilled job, such as nursing or even lower skilled job such as working at fast food restaurant, they all must work to sustain themselves and their family. Many people who work in these low skilled jobs, get paid much less than the higher skilled jobs, however there are laws to protect these unskilled works, such as minimum wage. Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage that an employer can pay its employees, preventing employees being exploited by their employers. Changing the minimum wage has positive and negative effects for both the workers, and businesses which makes raising minimum wage controversial.
From the article, what I have gathered that there has been a detailed deliberation and
Would raising minimum wage benefit our society? Changing minimum wage could potentially hurt the economy. It would be nice to have an increase in pay; However it would only lead to inflation (The act of inflating or the state of being inflated Webster dictionary) with the economy.
When it comes to raising the minimum wage, it 's an essential (U.S dept. Labour)ingredient in entering a stable economic society. Congress must raise to the challenge or face the consequences of a declining economy. With more than 70 percent of working class people working on minimum wages, the economy will surely benefit from giving them an increase. If they refuse to make an advancement towards the situation; we will make it very difficult for our future generations to raise out poverty. Help the working class people of American and pave a brighter road to our future economy. Lift the spirits of the American by giving them a raise. The cry of millions of American citizens living in poverty is most important to the economy. Whereas, raising
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
Minimum wage is the lowest possible wage permitted by law to receive for working everyday jobs. In America, the average minimum wage is roughly ranging from $7.25-$9.00 depending on where a person may live. Through three arguments I have received I have accumulated much knowledge pertaining to minimum wage in America. All three arguments suggest what they believe should be done in regards to whether minimum wage should be raised or stay the same. After watching “Thirty Days in Minimum Wage” by Morgan Spurlock, reading “Economists Argue About Minimum Wages” from The Economist, and reading a minimum wage piece from a news article. I have gained enough facts to realize that I believe that minimum wage should be raised in America.
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.
How does an employer decide how much to pay his employees? Logically, he 'd want to reduce overhead costs by paying them as little as possible. Minimum wage laws exist to protect workers from being exploited by wages too low to live on, as well as in an effort to reduce poverty in society and it 's far-reaching consequences. Many states have laws that raise the minimum wage at the same rate as inflation, but the federal government does not (Whitaker 634). The value of a new minimum wage begins to fall from the moment it is set. Because the costs of living are always rising, it is a hardship on those who must rely on wages which constantly degrade in value to meet these costs. The federal minimum wage, $7.25, has become too little for anyone to live on, especially without public assistance. The federal minimum wage has lagged further and further behind inflation over the last forty years (Covert). The minimum wage should be raised to a living wage for the entire country and set to index with inflation. As the cost of living increases, the wages paid to employees to cover that cost also needs to be regulated to increase in order to address income inequality and bureaucratic oversight; additionally, recent analysis shows that there would likely be modest benefits to the economy in the event of a modest federal minimum wage hike.
Over 3 million American citizens work minimum wage to support their families and their homes. This isn’t an easy task, because minimum wage is below the poverty. Jobs paying minimum wage wasn’t nearly enough to support a family of even 2 people. If minimum wage was raised to say, 10$ an hour, it would be better than the current 8.50$ workers are being paid now. Minimum wage should be raised because people simply aren’t making enough money for their financial situations on minimum wage.
Several American families are struggling to make ends meet because they work a minimum wage job. Americans often face that fact and wonder how they are going to pay their bills and still have food on the table for themselves and their families. This has been an issue for quite some time now and it needs to change. Americans should not have to worry about how they are going to pay for necessities they need with the little amount of money they are earning at work. The United States would benefit from the minimum wage being raised by the growth of the economy and creation of jobs, reduction of poverty, and reduction of income inequality.
This includes jobs as fast food workers, grocery cashiers, lifeguards and other jobs alike. All of these jobs are not meant to build your life off. These are jobs for high school students and college students to work while in school. These jobs where never meant to make a life off of and definitely not meant to sustain a family. In a recent study, it was found that if the minimum wage were raised to $15 dollars and hour, the price of a McDonalds Big Mac would rise from $3.99 to $4.17, at 17-cent increase. It was also found that to make up for the higher cost of employment salary that food sizes would shrink from 12 to 70 percent (Covert 1). The thought of minimum wage being raised to $15 an hour sounds great but there are a lot of behind the scene shrinkages or raises that have to be made in order to compensate the
An increase of a couple of dollars per hour or more in the minimum wage could make huge improvements in the difficult existence of the working poor, perhaps allowing them to exit the debt treadmill and stand a better chance of eventually rising into a revitalized middle-class. Researchers at the White House Council of Economic Advisors found that an increase to $10.10 an hour would raise wages for 28 million Americans about nine million of those due to the ripple effect. “According to a 2015 report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a worker must earn at least $15.50 an hour to be able to afford to rent a modest one-bedroom apartment, and $19.35 for a two-bedroom unit.”