Persuasive Essay On Minimum Wage

1261 Words3 Pages

Throughout history, there has been an everlasting debate on the subject of minimum wage. Both sides of the issue bring valid points to the table. However, there is something flawed in our economic system when “poverty rates are higher now than in the 1970s” (Sklar). The current minimum wage in the United States, $7.25 an hour, has been keeping families below the poverty line instead of pulling them above it. Every day people struggle to make ends meet. It should be taken into consideration that a little over half, 59%, of the American workforce makes minimum wage (“Minimum Wage”). Raising the federal minimum wage will overall improve the lives of working Americans. It will help low-income families live a more comfortable life as well as decrease …show more content…

Even though some believe it’s not meant for this reason, many people are struggling to support themselves with this low wage. Not everyone can go to college and get a degree. College is expensive, especially for those who have to pay for tuition with little to no help. Not only that, but getting an education past high school is not for everyone. The way our education system is set up is geared to one type of student, when there are many different ways people learn. For an example, there are kinesthetic learners, who learn better by carrying out physical activities. College aside, paying rent is incredibly hard while living on minimum wages. “According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there is no county in the country where a full-time worker making minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment, (without spending more than 30% of their income on housing” (Sklar). Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of Nickel and Dimed, is a novel about how an author/journalist and her firsthand experience of what it’s like to live a life on minimum wage. In her experience, she mentions in the Evaluation part of her book, “Something is wrong, very wrong, when a single person in good health, a person who in addition possesses a working car, can barely support herself by the sweat of her brow. You don 't need a degree in economics to see that wages are too low and rents too high” …show more content…

Nonetheless, there’s no reason why an adult who works full-time should be struggling to pay for rent or support their families. No job is unskilled; therefore no job should be paid like it is. People cannot stay out of poverty when they are paid a poverty wage. America needs to take step to improve this problem and raising the minimum wage will do so. Many people of different ages, races, and family structures would benefit from increasing the federal minimum wage. Even a simple increase to $9.80, only $2.55 more, would make a world of difference in millions of

The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised
2107 Words | 5 Pages
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.
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Persuasive Essay On Minimum Wage
729 Words | 2 Pages
The minimum wage has always been a controversial subject that has more and more people debating about the subject. While the talk about minimum wages are highly popular it is an important subject to get informed about if you’re an employee or employer because it has to deal with your money. What is minimum wage? Minimum wage is the hourly wage an employer can pay an employee for his or her work. While the talk about raising the minimum wage has caused some attention in both negative and positive. Nevertheless, the topic that the minimum wage offers substantial benefits to low wage workers without any negative effects to business owners has a growing view among economists.
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Persuasive Essay On Raising Minimum Wage
1668 Words | 4 Pages
Imagine a world where you are working overtime, seven days a week, yet your kids are starving. You can’t get the education you need because you don’t have the time and money to afford it, and you can’t change jobs because this is the only one you can get. Unfortunately, this is the reality for millions of Americans living today. The federal minimum wage is too low to help families, and actually mathematically speaking, too low to survive on. The quality of life for minimum wage families is terribly low, and that is unacceptable. As humans, we should be looking after others and helping the poverty come out of their continuous cycle. Raising the minimum wage would not only help families be able to afford a better quality of life, but help them to afford healthy food, get an adequate education, and invest in the necessary health care they need.
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Why Raising The Minimum Wage Be Raised By John Komlos
1496 Words | 3 Pages
In “Why raising the minimum wage is good economics”, John Komlos uses his knowledge and experience in the field of economics to explain why Congress should raise the federal minimum wage. He makes his case by comparing low-wage workers to Russian serfs and relating the hardships of the working poor. According to Komlos, a person working full-time at a minimum wage job makes about $12,000 a year after taxes, just above the poverty line for a single person. He also points out that America’s federal minimum wage is well below that of other industrialized countries.
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Minimum Wage And The Wage
2449 Words | 5 Pages
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 ...
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Homelessness In The Homeless Home
1843 Words | 4 Pages
I also think minimum wage effects what people can afford and therefore only allows them to look for low-income housing, which is limited. Like Reamer (1989) said, many families either divorce or don’t combine households which requires more units to live in. Many times women are in custody of the children, and she may work multiple minimum wage jobs trying to keep her kids in school or daycare while she affords rent and food. Her expenses would be higher because she is also paying for other mouths to feed—often on her own. That doesn’t leave much of her income to be allowed for rent. I also think that homelessness can happen to almost anyone. I have read stories of college educated adults whom are living on the streets. The majority of those who are homeless are in poverty, making the minimum wage in search of options that would allow them to afford the housing they need. I think that the cost of living is too high for a single parent or single person to be living on minimum wage. Everything costs too much, and it is unacceptable that people have to live on the streets because housing is a
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Should Minimum Wage Be Raised Essay
603 Words | 2 Pages
One reason that the government should raise the minimum wage is that people working full time make less than the federal poverty level; Which is $19,790 (for a family of 3). If a person were to work full time at a company that pays minimum wage you would make $15,080 a year.
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Pros And Cons Of Raising The Minimum Wage
707 Words | 2 Pages
The shockingly low minimum wage in America is borderline unethical. Since the minimum wage was established in 1938, there’s been controversy about how much it should be. It was originally set at an amount that would allow workers to maintain a minimal standard of living (30 Days). Since then, the minimum wage has been raised 22 times, but this hasn’t been enough to support the same goal. Not only has inflation made minimum wage worth significantly less, but the cost of living has gone up. Two thirds of American citizens support raising minimum wage again (Mantel, 76), but some still oppose it, saying it would hurt jobs and the economy. Although raising the federal minimum wage would most likely cause some jobs to be lost, it should be raised because of the positive effect it would have on poverty rates, the economy, and the individuals living on it.
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Minimum Wage: Impact on American Poverty
1282 Words | 3 Pages
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,
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Should Minimum Wage Be Increased
1403 Words | 3 Pages
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
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Persuasive Essay On The Increase Of Minimum Wage
1448 Words | 3 Pages
It is very difficult to live in America if you are living off of minimum wage, and many Americans are living off of it today. Raising minimum wages has its benefits like gaining more money to live better, but people do not see the down side of the increases in wages. With the increase in minimum wage, it also causes the cost of living to increase. How can this help the economy or help people? Minimum wages in America should not be increased because it will cause cost of living to increase, reduce employment, and cause businesses to lose money and workers.
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The Minimum Wage Should Be Increased
1846 Words | 4 Pages
A person working at minimum wage will only make about $10,700 a year. When rent, groceries, bills and gas are all added up, it appears to be a nearly impossible task to keep a family afloat. But working 40 hours a week at $5.15 an hour, one makes less than $206 a week after taxes. Making $206/week, one brings home about $824/month. Adding 17 gallons of gas at $2.20 a gallon in a car; the cost ends up to be about $38 a week, $152/month. The gas and electricity bill about $120, $50 for cable, $147 for property taxes, $45 for the telephone bill, $25 for water, and $42 for house insurance. All this totals about $580 (Abrams, H). Making it difficult to afford cable, and make the smallest payment possible on all the bills causing one to slip into debt. This is reality for many of the people in the United States. At the current minimum wage level, a full time, year round minimum wage worker in 2005 will earn $5,378 less than the $16,090 needed to lift a family of three out of poverty (Minimum).
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Argumentative Essay On Minimum Wage
2003 Words | 5 Pages
The minimum wage being too low has been a public issue in America for generations. Basically, the debate includes two different opinions. Firstly, people who want to raise the minimum wage, and second, people who would rather is stay the same. The overwhelming majority of liberals are on the side that favors a raise. Additionally, a somewhat smaller proportion of conservatives favor the change as well, but for different reasons. The liberal opinion on raising the minimum wage is based on the idea that putting more money in the people’s pockets, will stimulate the economy, and decrease poverty. The problem that conservatives and liberals alike have with this, is that a few direct consequences are proven to apply when raising wages. Some proposed consequences include unemployment, inflation, and unfairness to higher educated people. Another main point is that raising the minimum wage is thought to helps small business by increasing worker satisfaction. This issue of minimum wage has become increasingly popular and important in current times, as president Obama has proposed the idea of raising the minimum wage of contract workers to 10.10$ per hour (about a 30% increase from the current 7.25$ per hour minimum wage). A large number of people consider this wage hike unnecessary due to the fact that today’s value of minimum is higher than it has ever been since the 80’s, and because the wage hike comes at too high of a cost. All things considered, the issue of raising minimum wage is not a battle of political parties and their agendas, its really a debate between everyone.
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Argumentative Essay On Minimum Wage
1109 Words | 3 Pages
On an average, a worker must make $18.92 per hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in most places in the United States today (Network, Jolie Lee/USA Today). Additionally, most of the workers have to balance multiple job schedules, travel, and struggle to keep up their life going. In fact, according to the most recent available numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, (2010 Census) in December of 2011 more than 7 million people were holding 2 or more jobs. “In this world, nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Benjamin Franklin (1789). In brief, people work and dies to pay the circle of education, work and taxes. The increase in minimum wage will indeed decrease a huge stone of stress of working enormous hours. The federal poverty line guideline for a family of four is 24,250 according to 2015 census. (Obamacarefact). Accordingly, a person will have to work 50 hours a week in order to fulfill the guideline. Whereby, $15 an hour will perfectly meet 40 hours work law without overtime or working multiple
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Minimum Wage Argumentative Essay
1423 Words | 3 Pages
For the past three decades minimum wage has been seen to rise several times. Only helping some but more than anything harming most. So who are the ones feeling the effects? Certainly not the wealthy, it never is them, mainly it would be the working poor, unskilled and teenagers. Raising minimum wage would cripple the public even more than what it would actually help.
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Persuasive Essay On Minimum Wage

The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised