Minimum Wage In Texas

Latinos, however account for 23 percent of the poor but were underrepresented seeing that on they only appeared in about 13 percent of the images. Those statistics are alarming and so are the discrepancies that come along with them. These type of assumptions are solely the products of American stereotypes. In 1991, a study was done that Doorn recorded to gauge American opinion. American’s average guess at the amount of poor African Americans was 50 percent, although the actual figure was around 29 percent.

Today’s minimum of $7.25 an hour is worth 25 percent less than the minimum in the late 1960s. From research, a full-time, minimum-wage worker earns about $15,000 per year, which is below the federal poverty line for a worker with just one child. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest-paid worker can afford their basic needs, such as food and other necessities. An increase to $10.00 an hour as proposed by President Barack Obama would actually reinstate the wage factor to the same value it had back in the 1960s. In doing so, it would lift earnings for nearly 28 million workers nationwide roughly 1 in 5 U.S. workers.

With a minimum wage salary you have to work a forty hour work week without paying more than thirty percent of their income. The increase of minimum wage would benefit more than just workers it would have a positive impact on women and their families. This would benefit women because in the United States women tend to earn less than men. In 2015 full-time female workers made seventy nine cents for every dollar earned by men. Raising minimum wage would also help provide for their children.

These people are all living under the poverty line. The standard cost of living in America is $58,627. Too out of these 1.7 million Americans on minimum wage, only 21% of this number are teenagers, that leaves 79% being adults with families. Minimum wage should be raised because: some people could better support their family with more income, the economy could experience a boost , the quality of line could mean better workers, workers government program like social security food stamps and other government programs can be reduced and lastly taxes can lowered.

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. With the cost of gas, food and utilities rising our low wage workers simply cannot keep up.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would boost earnings for around 16.5 million workers, while causing up to 1 million jobs to be eliminated. To me that’s not a great trade-off: according to CBO, the typical family living below the poverty line would see its annual income rise by only around $300, or about 2.8%. But for up to 1 million workers, their salaries would go to zero. Since most minimum wage workers receive a raise within one year anyway, eliminating jobs and cutting off from the first run on the ladder of job promotion seems too high a price to pay.

Just like Barak Obama, Jill Stein wants to increase job opportunities. She also believes that minimum wage is unacceptable. Jill Stein believes jobs should pay livable wages and not just minimum wages. With prices in the economy going up daily, everyone will not be able to live off just minimum wage. Some people work ten and twelve hours a day making $7.25 just to support a family of 3, that is just for single parents.

Not exactly. Even though Obamacare requires that everybody obtains health insurance, 28.5 million people are uninsured in America as of the end of 2015. (“The Fiscal Times”) Why is that? Even though the number of uninsured people has dropped nearly 13 million since the ACA was passed, research has shown that even after the changes many people still cannot afford it(Key Facts about the Uninsured Population). These millions of people are not only taking a big risk and not obtaining health insurance, when they file their taxes in April they will have to pay a fee for each month and each dependent without coverage.

“As of January 22, 2015, Politifact Texas listed on their website that Texas has increased in the poverty rates from 15.1 percent to 17.5 percent.” The national poverty average is approximately 15.4 percent, which Texas is exceeding. “In 2014, for a family of three, poverty was an annual family income of less than $19,790; for a family of four, it was $23,790”. With most of Texans living in poverty, affording certain amenities, such as healthcare, is almost impossible.

This affects the opportunity of Hispanics attendance to college contributing to the low rate of Hispanics college degree graduates. A college degree education plays a key role in how much income one will and can bring in. For example, a study conducted at Rockhurst University in Kansas City found that “being at a disadvantage in the world of academics is shown in the types of jobs that these minorities have. In 2000, blacks and Hispanics were almost twice as likely as whites to work in the service sector, such as food service or cleaning service, with compensation at $12 per hour” (Restituto and Miller). Hispanics with no college degrees in Kansas are in academic disadvantage as found by the Rockhurst University in Kansas City since the opportunity to attain a college degree depends on the personal income.

Tax cuts and the middle class. The most important social class in America is shrinking at an alarming rate. The middle class, the driver of the economy is becoming few and are between. This is impart by stagnant wages and salaries for low skill jobs that need little to no education but also huge tax breaks for the tip top 1% makes the middle class pay for what is lost from them. Not only are the percentages that the middle class is taxed are high.

Some proponents of raising the minimum wage argue that the current minimum wage, currently $2.13 for tipped employees and $9 for tipped employees, is not a living wage. According to University of California Davis, minimum wage workers make around $15,000 a year after taxes. On the surface, this does seem like a terribly low number. However, according to the article “Why Get Off Minimum Wage?” from the Los Angeles Times, a family of four in California can get up to $35,000 in government subsidies and benefits. That adds up to about $50,000 a year per family of four.

Raising minimum wage for those in poverty would be the wrong approach to this conflict. Around half of workers that earn minimum wage are under the age of 25, so with nearly all cases of minimum wage earners, they are not the primary source of income, they are not supporting themselves or families completely. Although few of those that are earning minimum wage are not currently supporting themselves, they are still at a higher yearly income than the poverty line. Only about four percent of these are single parents. For those in poverty that need to support themselves and family are typically unaffected, therefor they will be unaffected by this

Nearly 8 million Americans go to work every day yet still live the poverty line. A 2013 report from the Congressional Budget Office estimated that 16.5 million low-wage workers would benefit from a $10.10- per hour wage,

Even when the economy was decent and unemployment in the United States was only 4%, unemployment rates for black women were much higher nearing the 10% mark which was double that of white women (BLS, 2005). Research has suggested that