Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
positive impact of increasing minimum wage
positive impact of increasing minimum wage
positive impact of increasing minimum wage
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: positive impact of increasing minimum wage
Minimum wage is the biggest debate that United States has to go through throughout the last century. But recently our leaders are having arguments on weather or not we should raise the minimum wage for hard working people. Oklahoma's Gov. Mary Fallin is having to the answer the question to raise the state's minimum wage higher than it is recently at with $7.25. There are many concerns that owners of businesses have about if the government is going to raise the minimum wage. As of 2014 Gov. Mary Fallin signed into a law a bill that would banned cities within Oklahoma from creating a mandatory minimum wage and employees benefits. The minimum wage issue is a microeconomics issue because it mainly effects a single individual of a household, a group of consumers, and businesses.
According to United States Department of Labor the State of Oklahoma is under the states with minimum wage rates that same as the federal. Oklahoma has employers of ten or more full time employees at any one location and employers with annual gross sales over $100,000 irrespective of number of full time employees with the basic minimum rate of $7.25 and $2.00 for all other employers (U.S. Department of Labor). When I was younger I used to work at a grocery store stocking up items for future customers to shop for. At that time the minimum wage was $5.85. At the time I was living at home and didn't have to deal with bills. So I was thinking to myself I can make a living with this paycheck because of my living cost wasn't high. But as I work through the months Under the Oklahoma Minimum Wage Act the minimum wage will be raised from $5.85 to $6.55 per hour as of July 24, 2008. Then one year later the minimum wage was raised to $6.55 to $7.25 per hour and that wou...
... middle of paper ...
...T - Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Blocking Minimum Wage Increase." JURIST - Oklahoma Governor Signs Bill Blocking Minimum Wage Increase. JURIST Legal News, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Franklin, Dallas. "'That Is Disappointing,' State Leaders Split over Bill That Bans Cities from Setting Their Own Minimum Wage." KFORcom. KFOR, 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
Querry, K. "Study: Minimum Wage Workers Have to Work How Many Hours to Afford Okla. Apartment?" KFORcom. KFOR, 5 Mar. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2014.
The United States minimum wage is not indexed to inflation. Due to this fact, the purchasing power of minimum wage falls as the price of consumer goods increases. The current hourly minimum wage is set at $7.25, however many states do pay above this rate. One example of this is in Michigan, the current hourly minimum wage is $7.40. The last time a change occurred to raise minimum wage was in 2009. President Obama has put out a proposal that is designed to raise the federally required hourly minimum wage to $10.10 in 2015. The public opinion of this proposal is all over the board ranging from a positive outlook to a negative one. Some of the negative remarks are that it would dampen the economy and shrink the hiring done by small businesses. “The Household Survival Budget for the average New Jersey family of four is $58,500 and for a single adult is $25,368 in 2010. These numbers highl...
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.
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,
Its well-known that minimum wage can easy vary from state to state city to city and even county to county. Furthermore each minimum wage law in each state/city or county has their own set of guidelines. The disparity of minimum wages within state lines is very diverse. For example the state of California has a state minimum wage of $8.00, while in Richmond, California the minimum wage $12.30 has recently been approved (www.foxnews.com). This is the highest among any state city or county and $2.00 above San Francisco’s $10.30 minimum wage (www.foxnews.com). For Richmond, California this makes sense becaus...
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 ...
All around there are people who argue about minimum wage. There are people who argue that the rate per hour should be raised. There are also people who argue that the rate per hour should be lowered. There are also people who argue the rate per hour is fine how it is and that it should stay the same. Should the rate really be raised, or should it instead be lowered? Why should the rate be raised, or why should it be lowered? What will happen if we lower the rate of minimum wage or what will happen if we raise the rate of minimum wage? What are minimum wage jobs anyway, or what is minimum wage? Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money per hour that an employer can pay their employees. In the United States, the federal rate of minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Since this specific rate was set for every state in the United States, several of the states have raised their rate of minimum wage. Ohio is one of those several states to have changed their rate of minimum wage. At the moment, in the year 2015, the rate of minimum wage is $8.10 an hour. If the rate in Ohio is already above federal rate, why should it need to be changed anymore? The rate of minimum wage should not be raised; it should instead stay at the same rate. These jobs are not professional jobs, they are only starter jobs, if the rate of minimum wage is raised it will hurt people while trying to help others, also if the rate is raised above $8.10 an hour the surrounding states will be affected.
A raise in the minimum wage is only a temporary solution to fixing the problems in the United States. The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938, during the Great Depression, and has already been increased 22 times. There are already 19 states that pay their employees well over the federal minimum wage. The highest minimum wage in the United States is in Seattle, Washington, and is set at fifteen dollars an hour. Interestingly enough, if minimum wage followed inflation, then it would be set at $4.24 an hour, which means it is already $3.01 over that amount that it should technically be (James Sherk 2013). Continued increases of the minimum wage in the United States need to be stopped as it will result in devastating impacts on low-skilled
The current U.S. federal minimum wage for untipped workers is currently $7.25 an hour, as it has been since 2009. At this rate, a full time employee would earn an annual salary of $15,080, meaning that a family of two people, for example a single working mother with one child, working a full time minimum wage job, would sit below the federal poverty line of $15,730 for two people (2014 Poverty Guidelines). While it is true that there are tax breaks such as those for children, and the Earned Income Tax that exist to help such people living in poverty, the fact exists that the wages in the US have not kept up with inflation and the cost of living. While the value of the federal minimum wage has risen 21% since 1990, the cost of living itself has risen 67% (Gilson). Opponents are quick to argue that only unskilled workers are paid minimum wag...
Pyke, Alan. "The Minimum Wage: Myths & Facts." Media Matters for America. N.p., 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 May 2014.
Today the federal minimum wage is $5.15, but should be about $8.50 if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $5.15 may not seen that bad, when factoring in such variables as sky rocketing gas prices, budgets can get pretty tight. David Shepard, a sophomore at Wayne State University, worked at a Meijer Retail and Grocery Superstore for over two years while in high school. At the time Shepard lived with his parents and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries, all that he had to pay for was filling up his gas tank and paying for his car insurance. Shepard recalled, “It was all I could do to pay for the basics like gas and bill’s, I barely had any money to have fun on the weekends”. This is only an example of a high school student that can nearly slip by on minimum wage with only a few expenses. There are 1.8 million people in America with children under the age of 18 that would benefit from an increase in minimum wage (Minimum).
Habitat for Humanity strives the bring fair living conditions to people worldwide. Ten million people die worldwide die each year to conditions related to substandard housing, and they are trying to change that statistic. 40 million American families find themselves in a situation where housing consumes more than 30% of their income. They can barely afford to pay for anything else in their life, because their house bill costs so much. Virtually nowhere in the US can a full-time minimum-wage employee afford a one-bedroom apartment, which is extremely unfortunate and means that either the minimum wage is too low, or the rent is too high. Either way, some policy needs to be made so working families have somewhere to live and do not become absolutely
Unemployment, minimum wage increases and the stock market all play key roles in our economy. Currently in New York, Governor Cuomo has signed legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Now everyone starting out a new employment option without a degree will start at a wage close to that of some employees who have attended a two-year college to earn a degree. Take my degree field for instance, the starting minimum hourly wage is $14 and averages around $17 after two years of paid studies and passing state boards. So, this is where I find the wage increase incredibly unfair, I paid for the schooling and the cost of taking my boards. I started out at that minimum and worked my way up but with this wage increase, I am excluded just like
On the 1st of April 1999, the National Minimum Wage (NMW) was introduced in the UK at a rate of £3.60 per hour for workers aged 21 and older, and at a rate of £3.00 for workers aged 18-21. Since then, it has grown steadily to reach a rate of £6.31 per hour today. The NMW is “the minimum pay per hour that almost all workers are entitled to by law” (www.gov.uk). In 1999, 1.9 million people were paid less than £3.60, sometimes even below the Living Wage due to the dismantling of unions by the Thatcher government. The idea of a minimum wage then came up, supported by the Labour Party, in order to reduce the increasing poverty and to prevent low wages workers from being exploited by their employers. The Conservative Party, supported by employers, was strongly opposed to this project, arguing that a minimum wage will damage the economy and create poverty due to higher unemployment levels. So, how does the NMW really affect poverty and employment in the UK?
A minimum wage is an hourly wage that is established by the government which represents the minimum amount an individual receives per hour. The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 under the “Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt” (Henderson). Currently, majority of the states have their minimum wage less than $10. However, the federal government wants to increase the minimum wage to $12 across the United States. The federal government believes that increasing the minimum wage will assist numerous people in the United States as most individuals are working in a minimum wage job to support their families. About “75.3 million people ages sixteen and over worked for hourly wages in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics” (“Minimum Wage”). Meaning almost a quarter of the workforce of this nation are working a minimum wage job. Numerous people believe that these workers are not able to make their ends meet, and increasing the minimum wage will help these individuals substantially. Even though people believe that increasing the minimum wage will benefit the society, they tend to overlook the drawbacks of increasing the minimum wage, and how it will prove to be detrimental for the society.
In the 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama called on Congress to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, and soon after signed an Executive Order to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 for the individuals working on new federal service contracts. An increase in the minimum wage has been a topic of discussion for many years now, and it looks like this year will finally see the first increase of minimum wage in 10 years. Not everyone agrees that there should be an increase, but many states have already raised their minimum wage rates because of the federal government’s inaction. Iowa raised the state’s wage, and it will rise again in 2016. Clearly there are benefits to a higher minimum wage; the current minimum wage in the United States should be raised because it helps the economy by increasing employment, and it is now at the lowest value it has been in more than 50 years, causing hardship for earners of minimum wage.