Minimum Wage
There is not a minimum wage paying job that will let you earn enough money if we have unjust wages. The current federal minimum wage (FMW) is unlivable. It is too low for people to be able to have a decent life and afford most essentials. Raising the FMW will increase security in most aspects of life. The federal minimum wage should be raised to allow people to have stability in society and a livable wage. The current FMW for people working lower-income jobs is unlivable. According to the Economic Policy Institute, the purpose of the federal minimum wage is "to help ensure that all work will be fairly compensated and that regular employment will provide a decent quality of life." However, no state in America has accomplished that goal. This is important because it shows that yes there are better-paying jobs out there, but the FMW was created to give you a decent life with a low-income job.
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In the US, the federal minimum wage is low. Although it is supposed to be a livable wage, that is not the case. In 1933, five years before the first minimum wage became law, President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level, I mean the wages of a decent living.” However, since the late 1960s, the hourly rate hasn't increased in line with the cost of living. The income of a minimum-wage worker supporting a family of four is actually much below the poverty threshold. The federal minimum wage hasn’t kept up with the cost of living for more than half a century. So the capability to have a decent fulfilled life is pretty
Seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour, or fourteen thousand five hundred per year, is the lowest amount the government deems appropriate to pay workers. This amount is sufficient for a single person with no extra expenses, but that is often not the reality of minimum wage workers. While some believe that raising the minimum wage would do more harm than good, increasing the minimum wage to a living wage would benefit society by reducing poverty, increasing productivity, spurring economic growth, and improving peoples’ quality of life. Some people say that paying workers a living wage would benefit not only the workers but the whole of society.
The Minimum wage was inserted into law to counteract working forty plus hours a week and child labor. In today’s times the only thing minimum wage is doing is hurting young workers to get a job and keeping smaller business from growing. With the minimum wage in place it doesn’t guarantee a living, it guarantees
Minimum Wage Laws in America As cost of living continues to rise across the United States, America’s minimum wage remains the same. With a gallon of milk closing around four dollars and federal minimum wage at $7.25, one can understand how the minimum wage can be troublesome for our working class Americans. States such as California, New York, and New Jersey have some of the highest food and rental cost in the country. We must find the right balance and compensate for inflation, otherwise our lower class citizens will keep on struggling to support their families and themselves.
Can a Livable Minimum Wage Ever Be Achieved? Raising the minimum wage by just about $2, would bring 4.6 million people out from under the poverty line (The Case for a Higher Minimum Wage 2). There is no question that a person cannot support themselves on the $7.25 national minimum wage; unless you buy the bare bones package. A higher minimum wage would boost the economy and save taxpayers millions of dollars.
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton have both embraced a 15 dollar minimum wage hike and interestingly enough, in a recent interview Donald Trump said that he cannot believe how “anyone could live with 7.25 an hour” and believes the states should take it upon themselves to increase the wage locally. It would be truly remarkable if one individual could live in Los Angeles (or Long Beach for that matter) with the current minimum wage of 10 dollars without having to share living expenses with others in the same household, or working multiple jobs. Nevertheless, with current economic conditions around the world it is hard for California and the United States to compete in low wage paying jobs that do not require much skills. In light of this fact I feel that the purpose of the minimum wage (which was established back in the great depression and had the goal of creating a minimum standard of living where all workers health and wellbeing was protected) should change to meet the demands and reality of our changing economic environment. Instead of being a labor price that psychologically gives individuals the liberty to buy a house, car, and some leisure, as many families think (especially as they mistakenly reflect back on the 1950’s) it should reflect the condition of the economy as a whole,
Having children,needing to feed family,and providing essential needs are reasons why minimum wage is necessary to be raised. Research shows that minimum wage needs to be raised to help so many things in life. Have you wondered what would happen if the minimum wage was raised to
Raising the Minimum Wage According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2021, the ratio of the 90th to 10th-percentile of household income increased from 12.90 in 2020 to 13.53 in 2021. Meaning that the earnings at the top of the income distribution is 13.53 times higher than the earnings at the bottom. This confirms the fact that there is an economic inequality in the United States that’s just growing and growing. Creating a bigger and bigger gap between the rich and the poor, greatly harming the poor.
The federal minimum wage should be increased because raising it would increase the economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and also improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum wage. Increases in job growth and economic activity will happen when the minimum wage is elevated. If the minimum wage was increased it will “inject 22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three year period”. (“Raising the Federal minimum Wage to $10.10 Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest Economic Boost") Thousands of new jobs will be created and it will put billions of dollars into the economy.
The federal minimum wage has long been a topic of controversy in U.S. domestic policy. In fact it’s been in contention since its inception. The U.S. followed the models lead by Australia and New Zealand, which established the world’s first minimum wage policies in the 1890s. The Progressive faction here at home introduced the idea of a U.S. minimum wage; their argument was that a wage should be sufficient enough to support a common worker's necessities. This resonates just as arguments used today, and proponents even go further in prospects of increasing the Federal minimum wage.
Since the Great Depression, there has been a minimum wage in America, but this minimum wage has changed 22 times since the Great Deprnbession. Many people say minimum wage should stay at $7.25 like it has been since 2009. Meanwhile, other people believe that minimum wage should be $15.00 so they can have more money to live comfortably. People think that a higher minimum wage will help, but it will hurt more people than it will help. If America makes the minimum wage $9.00, people will no longer be in poverty and it will make the economy balance out.
The goal of the United States should be to get rid of poverty. That will never happen with such a low minimum wage. If we want people not to rely on public assistance, they must be able to earn enough to feed their
This poses the question: “Is the current minimum wage a livable wage?” The answer, unfortunately, comes back negative. The current federal minimum wage, at $7.25, is worth nearly 38 percent less compared to 1968 when the federal minimum wage was valued at its highest ($11.72 in 2016 dollars). Given the facts, it is justifiable to raise the federal minimum wage as it would amount to a more livable wage, stimulate the economy, and provide better circumstances for workers of color and women.
The cost of living is a difficult situation that many Americans across the country struggle with today. A heated debate that directly impacts the lives of all citizens is whether or not the price of minimum wage should be increased. Minimum wage is the standard amount of money earned for executing a basic skill job. Some people hold strong beliefs on why enlarging minimum wage is a major downfall, while others think this process is extremely beneficial. The following paragraphs will discuss the pros and cons surrounding both sides of this topic and the reasoning that births each one.
In the past three years, many politicians and labor unions have been pushing for an increase in minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest set wage by a law of a government body. An increase in minimum will benefit some people, and hurt others. An increase in minimum wage will cause benefit in the short run but will be very damaging to the economy in the long run. There should not be an increase in minimum wage because it is unhealthy to the economy in the long run and it will be the major cause of job loss, increase in inflation, competition, and the price level of goods and services.
Minimum wage was first established in 1938 by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in an attempt to stimulate economic growth and create a better standard of living for the lower class. This attempt was fairly successful, but also has many consequences. You may be asking yourself, “how on Earth could setting a limit on how little you can pay someone be bad?” On the surface this statement seems logical, but if we delve deeper we begin to see many negative effects on the implementation of minimum wage. In our nation the minimum wage law almost seems out of place, like it doesn’t quite fit in.