People all across America believe that minimum wage is a good thing and helps people without an education have a normal life, however others believe it is causing poverty and homelessness among the citizens. Minimum wage was made to provide enough money to live just above the national poverty line.But over the years the cost of living has increased while the minimum wage hasn’t. Today, the national minimum wage is $7.25, which is less powerful than the minimum wage was in 1968. This is because the minimum wage was $1.60 per hour, which seems low but back then $1.60 was enough to support a three person family, whereas today the minimum wage can barely support one person. All throughout the U.S., workers have been fighting for a higher minimum …show more content…
The federal government issued the fair labor standards act. This act made it so all employers were required by law to pay their workers a minimum pay of $0.25 at that time. Minimum wage was also made to help the people as stated in the article, “Purpose of minimum wage”.Written by the labor law center, the minimum wage payment would be enough for an employe to afford basic needs of living. It was said that minimum not only prevents poverty but overcomes it. Each state has their own minimum wage but it can’t be lower than the national minimum wage of $7.25. States have their own minimum wage because not all states have the same cost of living. So minimum wage was created in 1938 as a way to overcome poverty, provide enough money for basic needs and be a fair amount of pay for employees throughout …show more content…
It’s has been proven that a worker with one child struggles to provide, sometimes not going to the doctor in order to pay rent. Others go without eating.Minimum wage can support a 1-person family but how much is that person going to have to give up if they run into more expenses. If raised, jobs will increase,the government and economy would have more money because more workers are making money, businesses and companies will strive and flourish from a fair increase.Minimum wage is too low,so low that it shows workers whats its like to be poor, it shows the what tis like to not afford basic things. The minimum wage was at it’s highest in 1963 and has been slowly decreasing as the cost of living continues to raise, The government has so much money but why still yet is there no raise? The minimum wage is a big issue but what are some solutions to that issue? Stated by the article, “Minimum Wage tracker”.Written by the Economic Policy Institute.According to them 21 states have raised their own minimum wage and 7 states have stuck with the federal minimum wage($7.25). As of right now Washington D.C has the highest minimum wage of $11.50 and Hawaii has a new wage of $9.25 as of january 1, 2017. This seems good but the cost of living in Hawaii is more than the cost of living in Washington. So then why are workers paid less in
1). Prior to the adoption of the law, many of minimum wage workers have marched in protest to demonstrate that the wages does not constitute the value of their work. Due to health care costs and inflation in the city, workers believed that nine dollars an hour was insufficient, although the national average is $7.25. This is not an isolated occurrence, while Washington State is seizing this initiative; New York and California are heavily considering the increase in minimum wage meanwhile conducting statistical analysis if it is going to work in the Pacific Northwest. It began in April 1, 2015 when Seattle's council approved the first phase, which was increasing minimum wage to eleven dollars an hour. Eventually it would be a phase approach, where the city would slowly adjust and raise its wages until the goal of fifteen-dollars an hour was achieved. It was not until this year that Seattle approved a mandated wage of eleven to fifteen dollars an hour, which is above fifty percent above the national average! Of course the initial outcome was celebration amongst the protestors, however, now they are facing consequences in which they have ignored and now small independent business owners, workers, our youths and our tax dollars are paying the ultimate price, being let go or
The minimum wage has been changing over time for the past hundred years. Minimum wage is a standard payment that can give people a minimum standard of living. Unfortunately, many minimum wage workers cannot afford a decent living, so they end up going into government programs. Minimum wage is different for every worker. In the past, workers’ wages were based on being a different gender of ages, or even paid for how big the family was”. In addition, the minimum wage is different in every state. Even though minimum wage has increased in the past more people are starting to get into government support programs. Also, the minimum wage payment barely gets people to provide a home. Maybe if the state minimum wages increase by $15.00, there might
Minimum wage is at a drastically low number. It has been 9 years since the last raise in 2009. The minimum wage is way to low for people to live off of. Minimum wage is essential for businesses to have a starting pay that is enough for people to be able to provide for themselves and their family. America needs to make a stand to raise the wage. The minimum wage needs to be raised in order for people to provide for themselves, for the US to keep up with other world leaders, and in doing so it will only better the economy.
A movement to increase the federally mandated minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 has been gaining momentum across the nation in recent months. Although the Senate struck down a bill that would have made the idea a law this past April, studies conducted by top economists and governmental agencies are finding it to be highly beneficial in practice. It has been over five years since the last change in the federal minimum wage, and the government needs to make adjustments for the modern economy. It should take action towards setting the new minimum wage to $10.10, even if in small steps.
“The minimum wage is one of the most thoroughly researched issues in economics” (“The Case for a Higher Minimum Wage”). As this New York Times quote says, one of the largest issues in economics today would be the minimum wage. The government still has not come to a resolution for the issue because they are unsure of what the negative side effects of raising the minimum wage will do to the economy. The minimum wage needs to be raised because of reasons that would benefit the national economy and improve the standard of living. One of the reasons why it should be raised is that the minimum wage has not been increased since 2009 (Lu). Since the economy has grown greatly and further jobs have been made, shouldn’t the minimum wage grow too? Another reason why the minimum wage should be raised is that no one can live off of it at its current standard. The minimum wage is occasionally referred to as the “living wage” but as of this moment in time, people can’t live off of it. Many people live in poverty because they don’t have a high enough education which means they cannot acquire a job that pays better than minimum wage. Minimum wage should also be raised because it will
Many struggle to support their family, pay bills, and buy food on $15000 a year. Minimum wage has been causing a lot of controversy for years now, but nobody does anything to fix the problem. The main reason minimum wage is not being fixed is the rich business owner will have to spend more.People say that minimum wage jobs are easy and pay too much, but they are actually very underpaid and hard for many. One person can survive fine on $15000 a year but three or four can’t. This is one of two reasons why minimum wage should be
This hot debated topic about how minimum wage should be increased dates back to where history began. Most people today forget the painstaking, agonizing labor that people had to go through. Think about this for a moment, a world full of men, women, and children working every day 90 plus hours per week and getting less. In 1915, “woman was paid $6.00 a week; she bought her lunch for 15 cents while her struggling co-worker got by on 6 cents.” (http://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/articles/2015/01/02/a-glimpse-at-your-expenses-100-years-ago) This shows these people worked very hard for little money without complaining about their expenses.
Minimum wage had become a big debate in our country, both federal and state minimum wage. They debate whether we should raise the federal wage or we should just let the states determine their own minimum wage rate by getting rid of federal all together. Many presidential candidates and other political officials would like to see the rate get up to at least $10 or even $15. The debate is that this will hurt our businesses and economy if we were to raise the rate. They also don’t think that people working a no skills job should earn almost as most as skilled job workers. The federal minimum wage was put in place to make sure the workers were in America were getting a pay that they deserved. In some states and even cities the cost of living has
The history of the minimum wage goes back to 1938 when President Franklin D Roosevelt signed in to law the Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA). Part of the act was the establishment of minimum wage of a $0.25 per hour in order to maintain a “minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and general well-being, without substantially curtailing employment” (Act of June 25, 1938 (Fair Labor Standards Act), Public Law 75-718, 52 STAT 1060, n.d.). Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 was implemented to solve two major economic issues at that time: protect the workers, and stimulate the economy suffering at that time from Great Depression. The federal government recognized the importance of financial stability among American citizens, and rebuilding the country’s economy at the same time.
In this dark period of our country, since many people were in poverty everyone in the house had to work there was no excuses.
The standard minimum wage level has been a controversy over its insufficient wages set for working class Americans. The minimum wage was established to protect unskilled workers from being exploited by employers’ low pay. Introducing the minimum wage provided stabilization in the workplace, but as the cost of living increases, working Americans are demanding a livable wage. In the recent past, the American dream fadedness changed the way Americans view the economy. For many wageworkers, the American dream is becoming less of a possibility as corporations minimize the chances for the poor working class to obtain the dream. However, raising the federal minimum wage will likely result in higher prices for the middle and lower classes because
Minimum wage has been a topic that has caused mixed feelings from all parts of the United States and other countries and it continues to be a topic of interest to many. There are some that feel minimum wage it is not high enough to survive, while others feel if minimum wage is raised, so will the cost of goods, such as food, housing and cost of living in general, resulting in no change regardless of increase. There are many families that are living off minimum wage and can barely survive on it. The majority of these families are on either on government assistance and considered in the poverty lines thus impacting the lower class American population the most, or they are single mothers raising their families on one income. The purpose of
Per the Wage and hour Division, in April 1990 minimum wage was $3.80. Prior to that the first minimum was a mere $0.25 in October 1938. As the cost of living and families increased so didn’t the wages to support these expenses. Jumping forward to the next minimum wage increase was in July 2007 to $5.85. Ultimately in a mere decade we only went up $.70/hour. Yet, here we are in 2017 (again another 10 years later) and we want to increase it by $1.75 this year, then another $1.00 the next year (bringing the total to $10.00), and then by 2020 (three years away) to a grand total of $12.00 per hour (“Minimum Wage Increase, Question 4.(2016))”! We are a ‘get rich with minimal work’ society. I will admit that I am a woman that wants minimal work and
Since the early 1900s, minimum wage has been a topic of mass discussion in the United States. Back then, the average wage was about .22 cents per hour. Back then, people were rightfully upset with the pay. Hard physical labor deserved higher pay back then…..forward to today, and things are different. People working in fast food, retail, or driving a bus for a few hours every day believe they should earn a LOT more money than they deserve.
In our modern day economy over four million americans are paid the federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty-five cents. People living on the federal minimum wage can attest to the fact that it is not really living, it is more a game of surviving. While the top twenty percent of americans hold over eighty-five percent of wealth the remaining eighty percent of us are left with only fifteen percent of the wealth to fight for. It is not fair for there to be a person spending lavishly while there is another struggling to live. The minimum wage should be raised to fifteen dollars an hour, because it clears people’s worries of financial instability, creates a larger middle class, and makes the minimum