We Must Raise the Minimum Wage

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Minimum wage is the lowest wage an employer can pay their employees. There is a Federal minimum wage and in some cases a State Minimum wage. The current Federal minimum wage is $7.25. An employee who makes $7.25 an hour and works 40 hours a week, will earn about $14,000 per year. The Federal government deemed that the poverty line is anyone who makes less than $17,000 a year (“Federal Minimum”). Therefore anyone that makes minimum wage lives below the poverty line. As president Obama said in his state of address, "In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty” (“Federal Minimum”). This essay will examine the problem of low minimum wage and explore ways to resolve this issue. There are two types of minimum wage in the United States. The first type of minimum wage is a Federal minimum wage. Federal minimum wage is established by the Federal government and is the lowest set amount of money an employer can pay its employee (“Federal minimum”). On the other hand, an individual State may set its own minimum wage. The States under the Tenth Amendment have the right to accept the federal minimum wage, or states may set their own minimum wage. Roughly 20 or more states have set their own Minimum wage laws. Some states set their own minimum wage because some states have higher cost of living. An example of cost of living is the price of gasoline. Gasoline in the state of Hawaii cost just about four dollars per gallon, where as the state of Oklahoma cost roughly three dollars a gallon ("Update: Minimum Wage"). Economists point to inflation as the main cause for low minimum wage. Inflation is described as “a general increase in prices and fall in the purchasing value of mone... ... middle of paper ... ...e Minimum Wage Is Stuck at $7.25; It Should Be $21.16 — or Higher." Inequality.org. Inequality, Facts On File 24 July 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. Berfield, Susan. "Fast-Food Wages Come With a $7 Billion Side of Public Assistance." BloombergBusiness. N.p., 15 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. "Federal Minimum Wage." Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 13 May 2013. Web. 15 Oct. 2013 Henderson, David R. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Viqi Wagner. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Negative Effects of the Minimum Wage." National Center for Policy Analysis, Brief Analysis. Vol. 550. 2006. Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. "Update: Minimum Wage." Issues & Controversies On File: n. pag. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 15 July 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.

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