Preview

Change in Federal Minimum Wage

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
605 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Change in Federal Minimum Wage
When you hear high school and college students talk about their employment experiences, all they seem to say is how they don't get paid enough. I've even said that myself quite a few times. Well, in a way, they are right; but this statement does not only include that average student, it also includes many adults and families who are trying to live on minimum wage jobs. In today's society, this is almost impossible. An increase in the federal minimum wage is in the interest of the nation as a whole, although it will impose some costs. This nation has finally realized that the time to raise the minimum wage is long past due. Federal minimum wage has not been raised in over 8 years, since September of 1997. This is only the second time that the minimum wage has remained unchanged for such a long period of time, the other period being between 1981 and 1990. At this time, the minimum wage is now only equal to about 32 percent of the average wage for private, non-supervisory workers. (Wendland) One of the main defenses of not increasing minimum wage sooner, is that business', when forced to increase the salary and wage expenses, will move parts of their companies overseas or suffer a profit loss in general. Through the process of surveying and research, it is believed that a raise in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour would benefit around 7.3 million minimum wage workers immediately. About 8.2 million employees who receive only about $1.00 above minimum wage would also see a wage increase. Keeping this in mind, it is also speculated that only about 12.3 percent of the U.S. workforce would receive and kind of wage increase. As it is, many states have already increased the minimum wage on the state level to more that the federal policy's minimum wage, therefore there would not be much of a change. (Wendland) It is a proven fact that the primary cause of poverty is low wages. Through the annual study completed by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation and


Cited: "Federal Minimum Wage Facts." G Neil Tools To Manage And Motivate People. G Neil. 23 Sep. 2005 . "Trouble trends for U.S. working families." Denver Post 17 Sep 2005. 23 Sep 2005 Vrana, Debora. "Insurance higher than minimum wage income." Los Angeles Times 15 Sep 2005. 23 Sep 2005 Wendland, Joel. "Eight Years is Enough - It 's Time for a Raise." politicalaffairs.net (2005). 23 Sep 2005 .
Continue Reading
View Writing Issues

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    1-6 Journal From Problem To Persuasion
    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages

    1-6 Journal From Problem To Persuasion

    Many business owners have argued that raising the minimum wage would cause hardship and cause businesses to raise their prices, but many workers argue that raising the minimum wage is necessary to help low-income workers to get out of poverty. Two main issues that workers face are insufficient wages to support their families which causes them to depend on government funding. Secondly, workers are faced with decreased job satisfaction due to making low wages. In my opinion, minimum wages should be increased because it will allow workers to feel that they have job security. Additionally, increased pay will allow people to further support themselves and avoid taking benefits from the government and can use…

    • 340 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Pros And Cons Of Raising The Federal Minimum Wage
    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Pros And Cons Of Raising The Federal Minimum Wage

    My research leads me to stand behind the idea of raising the federal minimum wage, within reason. Doing so would raise the standard of living, it could create more tax money for the government, and workers would, without a doubt, gain more motivation to work harder and more diligently on the job. In my opinion, it would not be right to significantly raise federal minimum pay.…

    • 333 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Current Event Economics
    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Current Event Economics

    Erin Powers Mrs. Runkle Economics- E Period February 26th, 2013 Current Event #1: International 1.) Source money.cnn.com, http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/27/news/economy/minimum-wage/ index.html 2.) Summary of Article According to CNN news tabs, Americans in the United States who possess the ability to work for minimum wage has dropped in the past year. From 2012 to now in 2013, the estimated amount of people who have minimum wage paying jobs has lowered from 3.8 million to 3.6 million. In some states however, although some jobs are unavailable, minimum wage has grown to a higher amount going all the way up to $10.55 in San Francisco. President Obama has proposed to raise the minimum wage earnings from $7.25 to $9 per hour. The general sense of someone working at minimum wage amounts are usually young, female workers, single, and missing a high school diploma. The difference of race however is not much of a difference including whites, hispanics, and or asians. 3.) Economic Impact The impact that this is making on Americans in somewhat good in a way. It’s positive in that the President is raising the minimum amount allowed to earn in minimum wage situations for those who struggle with money to pay to afford to live on their own. Having a job that only pays $7.25 per hour can be hard for a person surviving on their own to make because by the time they earn their paychecks, the money is already gone from having to pay bills, car payments, food expenses, etc.. Of course in the food and restaurant industry there are…

    • 456 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Pros And Cons Of Raising The Minimum Wage
    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Pros And Cons Of Raising The Minimum Wage

    Close to half of the world’s population lives in poverty. Many people try to stop this, but don’t really know how. One way to start the decrease in poverty is to raise the minimum wage. This would help the people who work for a living to be better off then how they would be making the current minimum wage. Growing up both my parents made a little over minimum wage and we still struggled to pay bills at times. I can only imagine how hard it is on families that only make minimum wage. People who live in poverty do not have the luxuries that many people have. It may vary…

    • 586 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Raising Arguments Supporting The Raise Of The Minimum Wage
    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page

    Raising Arguments Supporting The Raise Of The Minimum Wage

    While there are many opposing arguments supporting the raise of the minimum wage, there are far more compelling reasons not to. First, if the minimum wage were to increase, it would cost more for business to operate; therefore they would let go of employees or close altogether. Those now unemployed people would have to file for unemployment or find another comparable job at a larger company, who would most likely be looking to outsource work as well. America would lose business and money that could have been kept in our…

    • 91 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Raise Minimum Wage
    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Raise Minimum Wage

    The current minimum wage should not be raised due to many reasons. If the minimum wage is raised, not only will the wage increase but also prices will increase for the reason that employers will…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Increase Minimum Wage
    • 96 Words
    • 1 Page

    Increase Minimum Wage

    For those who are paid minimum wage, everyday living is a struggle. Minimum wage is the smallest amount of money that a boss can legally pay their employee. As of now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. When people are paid minimum wage they can’t live comfortably. Raising the federal minimum wage is imperative, even though some may think differently. If the minimum wage was increased, people would be able to earn a living wage standard, and avoid poverty; however, some would argue that by increasing the minimum wage would negatively impact the economy.…

    • 96 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Government Raising Minimum Wage
    • 380 Words
    • 1 Page

    Government Raising Minimum Wage

    Personally I think that it would be a good idea for the government to raise minimum wage. One of the reasons why I believe this is because of the fact that the cost of living has risen so high to the point where people aren’t making enough money to pay for their basic necessities anymore, and it is causing our nation’s debt to continue to grow higher because more and more people are filing for unemployment or government subsidies who are just not making enough money from their minimum wage jobs to pay for the things they need. This ultimately leads to an increase in taxes from peoples paychecks in order for the government to pay these subsidies that they offer which in turn increases the national debt.…

    • 380 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Raising Minimum Wage Raise
    • 135 Words
    • 1 Page

    Raising Minimum Wage Raise

    The value of raising the minimum wage would terminate the controversy of having a recession. According to David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute shows that, the moderate perception of a typical minimum wage salary is a middle class family's income can be 52% are in households with income of less than $40,000 a year. The average share of a family income provided by a minimum wage salary would be at $10.10 is 50%. If the minimum wage be raised to $10.10 would generate $22 billion to help the economic interest, and convert to 85,000 new full time jobs. These jobs are produced when minimum wage workers have earn more money to spend on merchandise. This means more consumer demand to increase in the need of more employees to keep up with…

    • 135 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Should The Minimum Wage Be Raised
    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Should The Minimum Wage Be Raised

    A new issue that is being debated across the country is raising the minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest pay you can legally give to workers. The minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. There are some people that think the minimum wage should stay the same. Others think that is too low, and they want to raise it. However, research shows that the current minimum wage is high enough to live a normal life with essential needs. If minimum wage is raised then the effect will be huge. The economy will go down, teens and new workers won’t be able to find jobs, and it will only hurt the people it was meant for.…

    • 442 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Minimum Wage Thesis
    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Minimum Wage Thesis

    The “American” Dream is what most aspire to achieve when living in the United States of America. When most citizens and immigrants think of the “American Dream”, they see equal opportunity. However, in reality, the levels of opportunity and equality is limited to some. There are many aspects of inequalities; a prime example would be wages in the workforce. Minimum wage was first introduced as a part of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938, starting at 25¢ an hour.…

    • 767 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Better Essays

    FDA Regulation
    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages

    FDA Regulation

    The general economic philosophy in America is that the higher the price of a service, the lower the demand from the general public. Raising the minimum wage puts American’s personal lives and jobs are at stake. Currently, there is legislation proposed with the intent of raising the minimum wage. However, contrary to popular beliefs, this will not benefit our country. Evidence released by the US Bureau of Economic Analysis during the Great Recession suggests that raising the minimum wage does not help people’s situations in times of economic downturn. In fact, it can worsen the situation, as the Wall Street Journal notes, “A higher minimum wage has the biggest impact on those with the least experience or the fewest skills. That means in particular those looking for entry-level jobs, especially teenagers.” And that’s exactly what happened with the Great Recession, when a six point rise in unemployment occurred, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Increasing the minimum wage requirements have indicated that several negative effects could occur, such as: Increasing the likelihood and duration of unemployment, discouraging part-time work and reducing school attendance, encouraging employers to cut back on fringe benefits, increasing inflationary pressure, and encouraging employers to hire illegal aliens, according to the Cato Institute. At a national level, raising minimum wage is detrimental. States are…

    • 1224 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Raising The Minimum Wage
    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Raising The Minimum Wage

    Consequently, raising the minimum wage would hurt more people than it would help, like businesses, students, low-skilled workers, and part-time employees. Businesses would not be able to afford to pay students, low-skilled workers, or part-time workers this increased wage without laying off people, cutting back hours, or raising all of their prices on their commodities. Raising the minimum wage would also not be fair to people who have worked to receive an education, and deserve this higher pay. I believe that increasing the minimum wage would give less of an incentive to people to finish school, since they would be getting paid the same or almost the same as someone who finished school and worked for their higher pay. Increasing the minimum wage would leave people without a job, or in the same situation they are in since most likely the cost of necessities will increase as well. It is important to take all of these facts into consideration when thinking about raising the minimum…

    • 991 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Minimum Wage Argument Analysis
    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Minimum Wage Argument Analysis

    Should minimum wage be raised or should it stay the same? This has been a long debated question throughout decades. Janice Steele, writer of “Keeping the Minimum Wage Where It Is” claims raising minimum wage would be bad for consumers, the economy, and small businesses. However, Ira Knight, writer of “Let’s Make Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, defends why raising the minimum wage would help improve our economy and workers. With that being said, both arguments are strong, but Ira Knight’s argument had more reliable resource then Janice Steele did in her post.…

    • 447 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More
  • Good Essays

    Minimum Wage
    • 2249 Words
    • 9 Pages

    Minimum Wage

    “The folks who earn the lowest wages have been suffering for years. They need all the help they can get, and they need it in a hurry. About 40 percent of all minimum-wage employees are the sole wage earner in their households, and about two-thirds of the teenagers earning the minimum wage live in households with below-average incomes. Frankly, I do not know whether a modest minimum-wage increase would decrease employment or not. If it does, the effect will likely be very small.”(New York Times, May 23, 1996)…

    • 2249 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
    Read More

Related Topics