Poverty in America
The fact that the number of people who live in poverty around the world has been decreasing since the 1990s is made even more remarkable by the fact that the United States is experiencing increasing poverty levels, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2007 through 2009, the poverty status of persons in the labor force for 27 weeks or more increased each year; in 2007 the number was 146,567 and in 2008 was 147,838 whereas in 2009 it was 147, 902. If the situation of poverty in America, the world’s most advanced economic nation in terms of development, is rising, the situation in third-world countries must be even more dire. According to Macroeconomics by Andre B. Abel, there are 6.4 billion people in the world
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This came about after the prices of goods and services in the United States shot up and this has been the case ever since the first increase of the aforementioned wage. In spite of this, the minimum wage is hardly enough for a household to be financially stable. The following example clearly illustrates this problem. Barbara is a middle class citizen who wanted to know what living a life on minimum wage would be like and how people who live on such a low income manage to make ends meet. To this end, she left her house, her belongings and all her comforts and got a minimum wage job. She quickly realized that she could barely keep up with paying her bills, let alone have enough money to eat well and less still to save. According to Barbara, this is a difficult life to live because of all the bills that have to be paid, the meals that have to be put on the table for the family and the insurance costs that come with modern American life. Taking the example of minimum wage in Ohio, which is $7.95 “Ohio Department of Commerce 2014”, it is seen that people who work minimum wage in Ohio get $318 a week including taxes. If they work full time and rent a 2-bedroom apartment in Columbus, this sets them back at the very least $600 every month. On top of that, there are utility bills such as electricity and gas that need to be paid and one ends up spending more than half of a minimum wage salary on just utilities and rent. The solution to this problem will not be realized until the government raises the minimum wage so that people who live a life of poverty can have a little bit more money to help their
Poverty continues to grow in America. The average minimum wage in the United States is $7.35 an hour- far too low in today’s society. Key expenses, for example, gas and housing prices, have gone up significantly since the minimum wage was last changed in 2007 (Wagner 52). The laws creating the minimum wage were intended to improve the standard of living and decrease poverty. Raising minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Millions of hard-working Americans are below the poverty line and need an increase in pay. Minimum wage must be raised because it will diminish poverty and assist the working class to support their families.
The minimum wage was, as it should be, a living wage, for working men and women ... who are attempting to provide for their families, feed and clothe their children, heat their homes, [and] pay their mortgages. The cost-of-living inflation adjustment since 1981 would put the minimum wage at $4.79 today, instead of the $4.25 it will reach on April 1, 1991. That is a measure of how far we have failed the test of fairness to the working poor.” (Burkhauser 1)
Understanding the basic concept of minimum wage is important for every single individual. We all live in this world together and it is obvious that there is an order. In order to continue our lives and afford our basic needs, we all need to work and gain wealth. As the old adage says ‘‘There ain’t a such a thing as a free lunch.’’ We need to give up on something that we like to get something else that we like. That’s why, every single individual in the society face trade-offs. However, people have different status. Some people work as employees and some work as employers. In that case of minimum wage the trade off is between employees and employers. Employees work for employers in order to gain money and afford their minimal living expenses whereas employers give up on their money and pay for employees because employers take care of their need of labor. Employers pay for their workers who we call employees and employees gain hourly money. The calculated minimum money that they gain in an hour base called minimum wages. Besides, there is this cycle that everyone actually works
Poverty is not just an issue reserved for third world countries. Instead, poverty is a multifaceted issue that even the most developed nations must battle
Understanding how the minimum wage level functions to affect poverty in a given society is crucial for informing policy in a number of important areas. Indeed, examining the link between poverty and the minimum wage is necessary for policy-makers working to establish sound economic policy as well as labour and social advocacy groups seeking to ensure the minimum wage is at a level sufficient to ensure workers can meet their most basic and fundamental needs. Readers should be concerned with the link between the minimum wage and levels of poverty because poverty is a particularly significant and impactful social issue. High rates of poverty can both negatively impact the economy, as well as contribute to a host of negative social issues. At the same time, there may be questions regarding the impacts to poverty associated with the minimum wage. Research which better clarifies this link is particularly important. For these reasons, investigating the link between the minimum wage and poverty is essential. This essay will provide a summary of two academic journal articles investigating the link between poverty and the minimum wage. Each summary will discuss the particular focus of researchers, the contribution of the study, the methodology employed by researchers, as well as their findings and conclusions. Finally, the essay will conclude with a brief commentary regarding the relevance of these articles to the larger topic, as well as their effectiveness in promoting learning.
The issue of poverty in the United States is complex, and no one root cause is sufficient to explain why, in a wealthy developed nation, such poverty should exist. However, a principal factor which may contribute to the nation’s poverty lies in problems with the U.S. labor market. According to Freeman, while the U.S. has witnessed a “substantial growth in GDP per capita” (20), only a relatively small portion of the population, the wealthiest Americans, has seen the benefits of that rise in GDP. Many poor and working class Americans do not have access to this wealth and receive little actual benefit from the nation’s increased wealth and prosperity. While productivity has increased in recent years, the gains from the nation’s economic growth has not increased the real wages and benefits for U.S. workers (Freeman 20). The U.S. labor market fails to distribute gains to low wage workers, resulting in their poverty, which in turn, puts their children at a higher risk for being in poverty themselves.
The minimum wage today has a lot of issues; some people say it is not enough to live comfortably. Many agree that there needs to be an increase in minimum wages and by doing that it can help with our issues of poverty. Statistics show that a worker who is full time and earning minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year, which is under the federal poverty line for a family of two. (Gitis, 2013) The problem with that is $15,080 is not a sufficient amount that a person can live and grow on. “A family of two can consist of a mother and son or daughter, father and son or ...
Currently, in the United States, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for the past six years; however, in 1938 when it first became a law, it was only $0.25. In the United States the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 by a significant amount due to changes in the economy. Minimum wage was created to help America in poverty and consumer power purchasing, but studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not reduce poverty. By increasing the minimum wage, it “will lift some families out of poverty, while other low-skilled workers may lose their jobs, which reduces their income and drops their families into poverty” (Wilson 4). When increasing minimum wage low-skilled, workers living in poor families,
Minimum wage has been around for ages. Minimum wage employment was a temporary condition for people earning little payment until they moved on to a better paying job. These jobs helped build résumés, experiences, and skills for a better career. It has become the easiest way for people to receive easy pay. As years went on that idea began to demolish into a job that many families can get to survive and pay for their expenses. There have been many arguments going on, "Should minimum wage be raised or should it be lowered or eliminated altogether?" This action has its pros and cons. It can benefit many families as living cost has gone up, price for education is rising, and college students are in huge debts. It may increase poverty, but those
According to Principles of Macroeconomics by Gregory Mankiw, “The U.S. Congress first instituted a minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938” (Mankiw 4-119). Minimum wage is used to set a limit of pay employers must pay their employees. Through the years the minimum wage has raised as productivity has raised. The minimum wage has constantly fluctuated and changed multiple times.
The people, who are for raising the minimum wage, are people who think that the reason for poverty is because of the minimum wage not being high enough. The first standard minimum wage is formed under the "Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, the nationwide minimum wage was designed to lift millions of American workers out of poverty and to stimulate the economy"(Wittner). Today the people that are in favor of raising minimum wage believe that there should be another "Fair Labor Standards Act" to raise the national minimum wage to ten dollars and seventy-fo...
The neoliberal policies have benefited some people in generating great wealth for them, but controversially, the policies have failed to benefit the people who live in extreme poverty and those people are the most in need for financial support (Makwana, 2006). In the last 2 to 3 decades, the wealth disparity between nations as well as within nations has increased. Currently, one out of every 5 children in the United States is in a state of poverty, continual hunger, insecurity and lack of health care (MIT, 2000). This situation is becoming even more desperate. Between 1960 and 1980, the developing countries’ economic growth was 3.2 percent. Then it dropped significantly to 0.7 percent between 1980 and 2000, and this is the period when neolibe...
Poverty is an undeniable problem in America. In 2014, 14.8 percent of the United States was in poverty (“Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet”). There are more people in the United States than it seems that do not have their basic necessities. In an
As of 2015, poverty is affecting at least 45 million people in the United States alone. With such a high poverty rate, even after the rise in economic recovery over the last five years, it is making an impact on the economy of today and of the economy in the future. Poverty takes a large toll in the future of the economic stability in multiple ways. One major impact is the billions of dollars that taxpayers pay annually for public benefits alone. Another impact of poverty is how it affects employment, or more so, unemployment, which in turn jeopardizes the future development of the economy. In addition, poverty affects the future members of society and the role they will come to play in the stability and building of the economy for their time.
In the United States the standard poverty line is set high in regards to the rest of the world. The U.S. Census Bureau announced that 37 million American citizens are considered poor throughout the country. Relatively speaking, the average incomes in non-industrialized nations is $2,500 per year. These nations have cultures who are not influences, nor capable of earning more money that is provided by the nation’s economy. Thus, considers such nations to have a minimized level of poverty. The United States economy, considering the high cost of living, creates a maximized poverty line. Citizens who does not earn the required amount to live comfortably and afford necessary items to survive, will be considered in poverty. Culture and traditions create the poverty level. However, who or what is exactly responsible for the global poverty situation? Efforts for profit influenced by the media, corporations, government, and all citizens in the U.S. have contributed to a high-cost of living. Which is difficult to live by considering circumstances in modern economies.