Minimum Wage Essay

1252 Words3 Pages

Minimum wage is the least amount paid to the employees legally by the employers. They should not be paid less than the minimum amount which is different for every state in America. The minimum wage is decided by the federal, state and local statutes. Increasing the minimum wage to an amount where people can handle the cost of living is an issue going on for a long time. According to the research conducted on the behalf of the National Employment Law Project, 75% of Americans support a $15 minimum wage and a union. As for California, minimum wage has increased eventually since 2014 by a dollar every year and people still want it to increase it till it reaches 15$ per hour. California 's present minimum wage is 10$ per hour as of January 1, …show more content…

According to the Fed researchers, the wealth share of the top 3% went from 51.8% to 54.4% in 2013. Now, the top 3% hold over double the wealth of America 's poorest 90% of the families. Rich are getting richer, while the poor are getting poorer. It became the serious problem because the minimum wage has not kept pace with the cost of living. The purchasing power of the minimum wage has started to erode and will continue doing so, if it 's not adjusted according to the increase in the cost of living. Loss of purchasing power basically means that millions of people would not be able to afford basic living, which harms families and even the state 's economy and budget. As San Francisco Democrat Mark Leno said that, "The state 's current minimum wage of $10 an hour leaves workers below the federal poverty line for a family of four.". Looking at California as the best state to live in with a great economy, almost one-quarter of California residents live in poverty which makes this problem look so bad. More than half of the California minimum wage earners are over 30 years old and thirty percent have children. San Francisco recently approved a bill saying that the minimum wage would be $15 by 2018 but this should be happening in every city in California. If we have to blame then rising cost of housing and goods while …show more content…

There was a Labor Day rally in South Los Angeles last year, by city and union officials, which made mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing the bill about raising the city 's minimum wage to $13.25 till the end of the decade. Nine months later, he signed an ordinance which proposed to hike the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2021. What started as an effort to raise the wage was Los Angeles’ largest public-sector unions, which became a statewide movement, gained a lot of support in the polls and pushed all mayors in California to propose hikes and even plan something more about it. Even "Raise the Wage" became the rallying cry for the Democrats in 2015 to fight against economic inequality. Even raising the minimum wage will help our democracy and

Open Document