The Minimum Wage Debacle “I could be easily replaced by someone tomorrow for less money.” What a dispiriting statement. I was told this from a coworker in October of last year. This coworker has worked for the same grocery store for over twenty years. His remark caused me to formulate many questions about the ethics of business. More specifically though is the question of how this can be a bigger problem than I had originally thought. I have worked many low end jobs, and have seen first hand many people who struggled because of their low wage. In the days of uncertainty we live in we should be able to make enough money to support our families. Based on the living wage calculator formulated by Michigan Technical Institute for a family of four the living wage would be $19.05 an hour.(1) Raising the minimum wage closer to the living wage in Sandy, Utah, through efforts by local businesses will help create better living standards for individuals and families. How do we make a living? Many of us have thought about what our purpose is in being a part of the workforce. Should it be mainly focused on providing the basic necessities for our families? Or alternatively should we enjoy our job more, and in return have a weaker financial foundation? All of us want to provide our families with a suitable standard of living. Our second goal is likely the desire, as well as the ability to enjoy our job. The reason we should care about this is we are spending forty hours a week at our workplace. The minimum wage should be raised, but not in the way you might think. It needs to be raised in part by the Employers themselves, on the basis of skill, and overall improvement. The current minimum wage for the United States o... ... middle of paper ... ...013. Morella, M. (2013). Waging War Over Worker Pay. U.S. News Digital Weekly, 5(36), 6. 2013: A13. Academic Search Premier. Web. 25 Feb. 2013. Brooks, Arthur C. "How Obama Neglects the Poor." Wall Street Journal - Eastern Edition Aug "Sparta: Government and Classes." PBS. PBS, 11 Sept. 2011. Web. 26 Apr. 2014. f KINSLEY, MICHAEL. "Walmart Can Solve The Inequality Problem." New Republic 244.17 (2013): 12-14. Academic Search Premier. Web. 28 Feb. 2013. Cowie, Jefferson. "The Future of Fair Labor." New York Times 25 June 2013: A21. Academic Search Premier. Web. 26 Feb. 2013. Hightower, Jim. "Nine Bucks Won't Cut It." Progressive 77.4 (2013): 46. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. "Raising The Minimum Wage: The Renewed Debate Over Fair Labor Standards." Congressional Digest 92.5 (2013): 1. Academic Search Premier. Web. 27 Feb. 2013.
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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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...
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
Minimum wage is a difficult number to decide on because it affects different income earning citizens in different ways. According to Principles of Microeconomics, by N. Gregory Mankiw, minimum wage is a law that establishes the lowest price for labor that and employer may pay (Mankiw 6-1b). Currently, the minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. For many years politicians and citizens have argued on what should be the minimum wage that would benefit the economy and society in general. A minimum wage was first established in 1938 to increase the standard of living of lower class workers. To discuss what is better for the country and its citizens, people have to understand what is a minimum wage and what are its effects.
Because the cost of living has sky rocketed, it has become almost impossible to raise a family on a minimum wage job. A person living on his or her own cannot survive on minimum wage job either. Their living expense would just be too much. The earnings of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families well being. Evidence from 2013 and 2014 minimum wage increase shows that an average minimum wage worker brings home more than half of his or her family's weekly earnings. In 2013 one million single mothers with children under 18 would have benefited from a minimum wage increase to $10.
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,
In many nations, the relationship between labor and production has often been a tense one. On one side of the equation, businesses have insisted on greater productivity at lower costs. On the other side, labor (most often in the form of labor unions) has insisted that increased productivity can be best be achieved if the workers have a reasonable “living” wage and job security (Howard 2002).
What would be so bad about raising minimum wage? Before other states jump on the $15 minimum-wage bandwagon, they might want to look at what's happening in Massachusetts — one of two states with a $10-an-hour minimum wage. Massachusetts increased the minimum wage from $8 to $9 at the start of 2015 and to $10 on the first day of 2016. The state is now mired in its longest stretch of net job losses since the recession in both the retail and the leisure and hospitality sectors, Labor Department data show.
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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?
Bernstein, Jared. “Would Raising the Minimum Wage Harm the Economy?” The CQ Researcher 16 Dec. 2005:1069.