In the year 1938 President Franklin Delano Roosevelt established the federal minimum wage of $0.25, an equivalent of $4.11 in modern dollar value. The general idea was an increase in wage would mean that employees started to earn a lot more money so much, that they were able to buy additional products and services. Business whose services and products are now being purchased earn money. These business now are able to hire more people, repeating the circle. Since 1983 congress has raised the minimum wage 22 more times to encourage economic growth. With the gap between the rich and poor ever growing and the cost of living on the rise many people agree that it’s time to raise the minimum wage again. Many people agree with the increase in pay, …show more content…
Even though 85,000 new jobs would be created because of an increase more jobs would be lost. The increase could also inject $22.1 Billon into the economy helping the whole county not just the individuals who earn minimum wage. Because of the strong public opinion many different groups and politicians have tried to raise it again. The closest to succeeding so far has been the Harkin-Miller campaign to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. Senator Harkin and Representative Miller attempted to raise the minimum wage three times. On their third attempt to raise minimum wage, they cultivated the support from President Obama. Their odds were good but, lost by four votes because of a republican-led …show more content…
Assume that there is a family who is terrible at planning and saving and struggle with the amount that they make from their minimum wage jobs. The new minimum wage is establishing and for the first time they don’t have to worry about paying bills or feeding their children. They start to enjoy their life. A few months go by and they begin to worry again because, the price of necessary essentials that they need become more expensive. Some people may get another job to help stabilize their bank accounts others just keep the job that they have and slowly slip into poverty The companies that they work for are not so lucky after paying the higher minimum wage to their employees, after all the hours that their loyal employees willingly sign up for they have to fire some. Most likely then newly-hired teens that just got out of training. Contributing to a high teen unemployment rate, something that has just started to
From the title “The Minimum-Wage War”, it may seem that Ehrenreich’s recollection of minimum wage work may not be as accurate as someone who faces the true pressures of working two minimum wage jobs a week; However, because she put herself in the same conditions, she created a credible experiment. Ehrenreich’s experiment was derived from the question “could match income to expenses, as the truly poor attempt to do every day.” She worked in various minimum wage environments, such as restaurants, a hotel, a cleaning service, and a nursing home. By working under the harsh conditions of minimum wage work, Ehrenreich discovered the difficulties of managing living expenses with such a limited budget. Despite the harsh nature of the work, there are still skeptics who feel that raising the minimum wage will reduce the number of jobs available to minimum wage workers.
Minimum wage would raise the wages of many workers and increment benefits what disadvantaged workers. An estimated 6.9 million workers would receive an incrementation in their hourly wage if the minimum rage were raised to $10.15 by 2015. Due to the spill over effect the 10.5 million workers earning up to a dollar above minimum wage would withal be liable to benefit from an incrementation. Women are the most astronomically immense group of beneficiaries from a minimum wage increase. Sixty percent of workers who would benefit from an incrementation are women.
The study by the Economic Policy Institute found that by raising the minimum wage in a series of increments as proposed by Senator Tom Harkin and Representative George Miller in the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 that “an increase to $10.10 would either directly or
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.
Is it really a good thing to raise the minimum wage to meet the basic need for poor people? Is it the best way to prevent poverty rate and income inequality? Answers must vary from skeptical to comprehensive response depending on whoever answers these questions. Amid a debate on this
One of the most frequently asked questions in our country seems to be will minimum wage being raised or lowered affect poverty. Poverty has struck many people in the United States across the nation. With this occurring in our country poverty will continue to affect millions of Americans each year. The federal minimum wage ought to be raised because it would fortify the economy and enable Americans to out of poverty. Increasing minimum wage will make workers more financially stable, if the wage doesn’t increase it will be harder for people to make a living.
This article was written by Thomas E. Perez, a democratic politician and the former secretary of the United States Department of Labor. He is a proud supporter of raising the minimum wage and his political party has nothing to do with his beliefs in this topic. President Donald Trump, is a republican and during his campaign he expressed the importance of raising minimum wage. In this article, Perez starts off by stating his opinion, “I don 't think a country as great as ours should pay people so little that they need help from the state just to survive.” He automatically sets the mood and lets the reader know what it is that he will be expressing throughout his article.
The people who are against the increase of minimum wage often argues that it will harm young adolescents the most, and that they will need the experience of working at the minimum wage. It is significantly unfair with other states, such as California and Massachusetts. The minimum wage for these states gives other states a disadvantage in the economy. I feel that every state should have the same price range of minimum wage just to make every state feel that they are equally the same without any disadvantages. Raising the minimum wage is something that should’ve been done a long time ago.
This is something that is a natural outcome of the economic growth that the United States is now enjoying. Clearly, there are going to be increases in revenue and profits throughout America. And if this is only restricted to a few, in top positions who get their salaries increased hundreds of times ahead of the ordinary worker who is doing a lot to keep a company going. In line with this, the small change in minimum wage is not helping and it is clearly not reflecting the fair and just distribution of money throughout the organization and teamwork is hurt by keeping the minimum wage low. It should be increased to force employers to do more to
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.
Women and ethnic minorities make up the largest group earning less than a $15 wage. According to NELP, Women workers make up about 54.7 percent of minimum wage workers. African Americans represent nearly 12 percent of the aggregate workforce, accounting for about 15 percent of the under-$15-wage workforce. Also, Latinos make up 16.5 percent of the workforce, however represent very nearly 23 percent of workers making under $15 an hour. With the workforce so disproportionally represented, these workers with the lowest paying job will greatly benefit from the change.
There are a lot of potential benefits for an increase in minimum wage and on the surface it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t want to increase the wage. One of the clearest to see is that an increase to the minimum wage will also increase the spending for each household during the following years. So it works to help stimulate the economy in whatever area you increase the minimum wage. Along those same lines increasing the minimum wage will lead to a decrease in poverty as well. With the decrease in poverty you will also see a decrease in government spending on welfare items because the individuals receiving the higher wage in theory will be able to pay for these services/welfare items without assistance.
Such scenarios, which afflict millions and millions of people, appear to violate the so-called “social contract” of the American Dream (Source 2), which posits that working hard guarantees a comfortable life with decent housing and basic necessities. Such a fancy is belied by the harsh reality of the minimum wage. Even progressive attempts to elevate the national minimum wage to $10.10 leave earners with a hourly salary with buying power “lower than what” $1.60 was worth in 1968 (Source 4). Here, the minimum wage is actually working against its goal; rather than providing a livable baseline wage to subsist upon, the minimum wage standard is being used as a lever for exploitation, with employers steadfastly refusing to pay much more than the merest amount legal.
In order to make a profit off of a product a company must make more than they are spending. So when it comes to spending on wages companies cannot be paying them more than their income. If companies were forced to raise the minimum wage many of them would find themselves laying off workers, especially those of the lower skilled employees. As much as a 3% reduction of low skilled workers can be projected with an increase of 10% in the minimum wage (Negative Effects). An American Apparel store in Los Angeles had to lay off 500 workers because of the recent city increase to $15 an hour (Sherk).
This shows that unlike many may think, raising the minimum wage would not be harmful to the US economy. It is natural that as workers earn higher wages, they are more likely to spend as consumers, consequently increasing demand and allowing the economy to flow. People also often make the assumption that a higher wage would provoke higher unemployment rates, however research finds that raising the minimum wage does not result in job losses, “even during periods when the unemployment rate is high.” In addition, most of the states noticed a slight decrease in their unemployment rate a year after the raise in minimum wage (American Progress Action). An article from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago claims that if the federal rate was to increase by $1.25, it would aggregate household spending by $48 billion as well as increase the level of GDP by up to 0.3 percent (Chicago Fed).