"No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty." -- Jon Corzine Many people can think back and remember what it was like to put in an application for that first job and be presented with a position. Taking that position represents adulthood and is a very exciting time for a young person. All first jobs usually start with a minimum wage. Minimum wage is the minimum an employer has to pay an unskilled worker based on the regulations set forth by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that was originally established in 1938. As people think back about their first jobs they can also remember what the minimum wage was when they took that position. Minimum wage is only increased based on the cost of living from the prior year. If the previous year shows an increase then the minimum wage will increase in the coming new year. Sinegal (2009) stated "The increase in the minimum wage is long overdue. Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business". Based on the cost of living we show for the year of 2009 minimum wage will not increase for 2010. Minimum wage is currently at $7.25 per hour. Most people who start at this rate are young people who are in high school or college and are working a few hours to help pay for school. After they graduate they can apply for better jobs and move on. People who live in areas without growth, single mothers trying to raise their children, and uneducated people are working more than one minimum wage job to make enough money to pay their financial obligations. While the cost of living did not increase, minimum wage is low because no increase is planned for 2010 a... ... middle of paper ... ...year’s cost of living. What constitutes cost of living to the federal government and it that assessment being addressed fairly? Minimum wage is too low. The federal government must raise the minimum wage so that the average American will not need to continue to work multiple jobs. References The Department of Labor. (2010). Compliance Assistance - Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm The Department of Labor. (2010). [Graph Table State Minimum Wage] Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/america.htm About.com US Government Info. (2009). The Federal Minimum Wage. Retrieved from http://usgovinfo.about.com/blminimumwage.htm Sinegal, J. (2009). Business for Fair Minimum Wage. Quotable Quotes. Retrieved from http://www.businessforafairminimumwage.org/Quotes
United States Department of Labor. "U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division - U.S. Department of Labor-General Information on the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)." U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division -
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...
The article discusses the minimum wage has not kept up with the current cost of living, and that it is
In “Why raising the minimum wage is good economics”, John Komlos uses his knowledge and experience in the field of economics to explain why Congress should raise the federal minimum wage. He makes his case by comparing low-wage workers to Russian serfs and relating the hardships of the working poor. According to Komlos, a person working full-time at a minimum wage job makes about $12,000 a year after taxes, just above the poverty line for a single person. He also points out that America’s federal minimum wage is well below that of other industrialized countries.
U.S. Department of Labor. Minimum Wages for Tipped Employees. Rep. U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, Dec. 2011. Web. 30 Oct. 2014. .
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.
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,
"When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."
A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The first minimum wage was just 25 cents an hour in 1938. Can you imagine surviving off of 25 cents an hour? Now just over 70 years later the federal minimum wage is now 7.25. The question at hand is the federal minimum wage enough to meet the minimum requirement for a good, happy and healthy life? Some states and cities say no. While a select few states and cities have mirrored the federal minimum wage of 7.25, some states have placed their state or city/county minimum wage marginally higher than the federal minimum wage. So why would some states prefer to have a higher level than required by the federal minimum wage when some state have decided to match or even go below the federal minimum wage level. The answer to this question lies within each state city and county and how they perceive the cost of living in the presiding area. Minimum wage needs a makeover in America despite some of the negative effects that may come along with it. This paper will explore the reasons behind federal and state minimum wages and why some of them differ among states counties and cities across America.
The definition of Minimum Wage is “an amount of money that is the least amount of money per hour that workers must be paid according to the law” (Minimum wage). Minimum wage, like other laws, are used to keep the economy in line. Minimum wage laws were invented in Australia and New Zealand with the purpose of guaranteeing a minimum standard of living for unskilled workers. (Linda Gorman) Minimum wage puts a price on the services one offers. Many different principles can be used to explain Minimum wage and explore the different aspects of it. Including what minimum wage does for our economy and the current status of it.
"Fair Labor Standard Timeline Evolution of Fedral Minimum Wage Law." Congressional Digest. N.p., Mar. 2007. Web. 1 Dec. 2013.
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.
Today the federal minimum wage is $5.15, but should be about $8.50 if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $5.15 may not seen that bad, when factoring in such variables as sky rocketing gas prices, budgets can get pretty tight. David Shepard, a sophomore at Wayne State University, worked at a Meijer Retail and Grocery Superstore for over two years while in high school. At the time Shepard lived with his parents and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries, all that he had to pay for was filling up his gas tank and paying for his car insurance. Shepard recalled, “It was all I could do to pay for the basics like gas and bill’s, I barely had any money to have fun on the weekends”. This is only an example of a high school student that can nearly slip by on minimum wage with only a few expenses. There are 1.8 million people in America with children under the age of 18 that would benefit from an increase in minimum wage (Minimum).
"Raising the minimum wage will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities." -- President Obama
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.