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)
It is time, the labor market is taking advantage of humans and it must come to an end. For the sake of protecting the people, the minimum wage should be raised. The minimum wage is a tool that was introduced in the 20th century to protect workers from abuse. Today, that is very much not the case. American workers are subject to jobs that pay their workers the bare minimum. In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no person that works full time should have to live in poverty. At the 1912 Progressive Party, Theodore Roosevelt told the attendees: “We stand for a living wage, enough to secure the elements of a normal standard of living, a standard high enough to make morality possible, to provide for education and recreation, to care for immature members
America is currently working on the issue of whether the minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 to $10.10 and economists are studying the effects of the possible increase. Minimum wage workers deal with struggles such as affording health care, paying for education, providing food for their families, putting many hours of work in while making little income and paying their bills. America’s decision to raise the minimum wage would help low wage workers to make higher incomes and would overall strengthen the economy, pulling Americans out of poverty. Americans may hold a minimum wage job if they do not have money to attend a college or university to obtain a degree in order to find a career.
In 1938, the United States Congress endorsed the first federal minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act, (FLSA), which established a rate of twenty-five cents per hour. Originally the minimum wage only pertained to employees involved in interstate commerce, which consisted of the manufacturing, mining and transportation industries. But, in 1961 an amendment was passed to expand the minimum wage to other industries including construction, retail and service businesses. Since then, coverage has expanded to include close to 85% of the current workforce, and the wage rate has been increased 22 times. (Wilson, 2012). However, the minimum wage does not automatically increase in proportion to the cost of living because it is not indexed to inflation (Smith, 2009).
Raising the pay for minimum wage workers will be the proper way to create effective results, yet there exists those who oppose an increase. Neal Asbury, an American entrepreneur, writes “Raising the Minimum Wage Brings Minimum Benefits” to express how a hike in wages will increase unemployment levels. The author introduces a survey done in 1992 regarding economists’ beliefs towards an increase in minimum wage, where 72 percent claim it would hurt unemployment levels (Asbury). According to this claim, more than half of economists argue that if a rise in minimum wage is to occur, unemployment will soar among the country. Businesses will be prone to lay off employees or hire fewer workers because of higher costs and will lead low-skilled workers to be jobless. An increase in pay will lea...
... minimum, and 73 percent of Americans support raising the minimum wage. It’s time for Congress to act.” (James A. Dorn).
In 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act was passed and ever since, the United States has required that all firms that do at least $500,000 worth of business per year pay their workers a minimum wage (“Handy” n.pag.). Because it affects so many workers in so many different aspects of the economy, the minimum wage plays a big part in the cost of labor and how firms deal with those costs. A change in the minimum wage, which would seemingly affect only workers, can actually be felt sometimes all the way down to the consumer, who might end up paying for it in the end—unless the firm finds another way to pay for the mandatory raise for all its workers, such as a decrease in its workforce or a change in the production process. These changes the consumer might not noticeably feel. A change in the minimum wage has several short-term and long-term effects on the economy that can be either beneficial or devastating to society at large.
Throughout the decade, a continuous firing debate still remains, whether to raise the minimum wage or keep as it is. People believe that raising the minimum wage can hurt the economy. More will lose jobs than gain. Though all are true, the amount of poverty shown throughout the decades are jaw dropping. That is in fact one of the leading factors. As there is yin and yang, the demand for a higher minimum wage is no coincidence or selfishness as others perceive as is. The poverty shown throughout the decade is deadly prominent. Minimum wage should be raised as people are not gaining enough money compared to the past, despite with more education, too many low quality jobs, “in active” unemployment are outcasted from the statistics, and finding jobs is more difficult than it was decades ago.
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...
Some policymakers may believe that companies simply absorb the costs of minimum wage through reduced profits, but that’s rarely the case. Instead, businesses rationally respond to such mandates by cutting employment and making other decisions to maintain their net earnings. These behavioral responses usually offset the positive labor market results that policymakers are hoping for.”
Chewing gum is a practice with roots that can be traced back thousands of years ago when people chewed on
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
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
I. First Argument: More and more families are falling behind because the minimum wage has not kept up with the rate of inflation.
Congress created minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The first minimum wage was only 25 centers per hour. Through history the minimum wage has increased a little at a time, umping a couple cents each time. The last time the United States changed the minimum wage was in 2007 which was a large jump from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This jump of $2.10 was a large increase. Through the years it is evident that the minimum wage is constantly changing. “. It has averaged $6.60 an hour in purchasing power in 2013 dollars. But it has ranged from a low of $3.09 an hour in late 1948 to a high of $8.67 an hour in 1968(Sherk, J. (2013, June 25).