The law has set an hourly wage rate called minimum wage. For American workers, some local and state governments have established higher minimum wage. The idea of minimum wage laws is applied around the world. These laws have ensured that people can make enough money to support their families and themselves. As of 2010, the United States’ minimum wage was $7.25 per hour (By the Numbers). Followers of minimum wage laws claim they are essential to aid in America’s reform. For example, America’s welfare programs require the recipients to find jobs. Opponents of minimum wage laws view the increase of minimum wage as an example of the heavy government rule. President Obama states during his April 30th, 2014 press conference, “So Americans have been way out in front of …show more content…
This is not the wealthy people of the nation, but the majority of people who are faced with working at a minimum wage. The wealthy, in a sense, has commandeered the economic system by continuing to overproduce with the least amount of resources to include employees (Robust US). In addition, the wages of the average American has been behind the growth in productivity. Although minimum wages has been stagnant the past years the cost of living has increased. This has led to the increase of debt in family homes (Auerback). Before there are thoughts of reforming the economy they base of standard wages must be fixed. For example, more and more often the working poor take loans to help them survive financially, only to be owed more, families continue to need welfare to support themselves and this causes people to work more than one job. This cycle continues to grow preventing the poor to rise out of debt. If the wage is increased, families will be able to afford the standard of living and not build upon the national deficit. As time goes, the social classes are becoming stratified, allowing the working poor to exist in
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 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.
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...
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.
In recent years the minimum wage has been a heated topic. People want to hike it up to 15 dollars an hour which they call a living wage, while others just want to keep it the same. There are also others that suggest to bring the minimum wage to around $10.78 an hour, which should be around the minimum wage now if we account for inflation from the 1960’s. I agree with that to a certain point. We as a nation need to bring up the minimum wage only up to ten dollars so that less people are living in poverty, and not any higher so that states with smaller economies don 't crash and burn.
In the 2013 State of the Union, President Obama proposed raising the minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $9.00 by 2015. This has caused arguments between the rich, small businesses, minimum wage workers, and the unemployed because it affects each of them differently. Obama’s plan is to bind the minimum wage to the cost of living, which ensures that minimum wage goes up with inflation. In general, this benefits minimum wage workers by improving their standard of living.
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
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.
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.
For many people in the United States, life is no more than a regular work cycle. Members of working class usually have a High School diploma and may work in a low skilled occupation or manual labor. Most of the enjoying age of this people is spent in working, as they don’t want their new once to have a life they struggling through. Therefore, this essay will argue that minimum wage should be increased federally to $15/hour by 2017. Firstly, if taxes touches the sky, why should the minimum wage be on the ground? Increasing minimum wages would also create new opportunities for education as the students wouldn’t have to work crazy hours. Likewise, many couples won’t have to work multiple jobs in order to manage the household. Lastly, it will lift
Minimum wage is the lowest hourly pay employers are legally able to pay their workers. In United States there is huge debate on whether or not to raise the current minimum wage rates from seven dollars and twenty five cents per hour. States are leading push to increase the minimum wage by Democrats who appeal to working class Americans. Congress want to increase minimum wages above seven dollars and twenty five cents. The issues of whether to raise the minimum wage or not.
The living wage is more and more being called a movement because the current federal minimum wage laws does not provide enough money for an individual that works a full time job to be able to support a family. Making them feel like they should not have to raise a family in poverty. Across the United States there are efforts to provide what is called living wages for workers which began with requiring all employers to pay at least the minimum wage to its workers that is equal to the living wage for the area (City/State) they are working in. The current minimum wage is set, depending on where you are living it can be up to several dollars short of what should be the living wage. The living wage movement is very active in full force forward
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.
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.