Minimum Wage Thesis
The Minimum Wage rate policy dramatically affects U.S citizens. The amount of the wage rate, shapes people’s well-being; it can either benefit or hinder Americans. Currently, it causes a hindrance on low-income. However, not everyone agrees that the policy should be adjusted, and this is what sparks the nationwide debate. In many states across the country, people are protesting and petitioning against the government to increase the federal minimum wage. According to EPI (Economic Policy Institute), at the wage of $7.25 per hour, working 40 hours per week, 52 weeks per year yields an annual income of only $15,080. This is below the federal poverty line for families of two or more. Minimum wage negatively impacts people who work low-income jobs and their families because it’s too low, creates a stagnant economic growth, and inconsistent.
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The Wage rate is too low nationally.
According to W.E. Upjohn Institute, the poverty lines and the minimum wage make almost no contact with each other. The minimum levels of income needed for families of different sizes to be classified as being above poverty. A family of one adult and two children would be considered not to be in poverty if annual income exceeds $17,568, while one of two adults and two children requires a minimum of $22,113. The poverty line defines a very low standard of living, possibly destitution. For example, working single parents almost always require child care. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (2011), the average cost of childcare for two children (an infant and a four-year-old) in a least expensive state, like Mississippi, would be at least $7,280, more than 40 percent of the poverty-level income of $15,030. (There would be little income for anything else. As mentioned before, the wage is a national issue and is being experienced across the U.S. What can be done to address low
wages?
Many citizens, in numerous states, have brought this to the attention of their state government. America is a democracy, the government listens to the people. Recently many are taking advantage of that privilege by petitioning a new minimum rate.
A low federal wage plays a role in our stagnant economy.
Four out of five economists agree that the benefits of raising and indexing the minimum wage outweigh any costs. Raising the minimum wage is a critical and simple way to help repair the weakness in our economy. It would boost consumer spending and increase the purchasing power of low-wage workers, especially in states with the highest percentages of low-wage workers, many of which also have the highest rates of poverty.
The Wage rate is too low nationally.
According to W.E. Upjohn Institute, the poverty lines and the minimum wage make almost no contact with each other. The minimum levels of income needed for families of different sizes to be classified as being above poverty. A family of one adult and two children would be considered not to be in poverty if annual income exceeds $17,568, while one of two adults and two children requires a minimum of $22,113. The poverty line defines a very low standard of living, possibly destitution. For example, working single parents almost always require child care. According to the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies (2011), the average cost of childcare for two children (an infant and a four-year-old) in a least expensive state, like Mississippi, would be at least $7,280, more than 40 percent of the poverty-level income of $15,030. (There would be little income for anything else. As mentioned before, the wage is a national issue and is being experienced across the U.S. What can be done to address low
wages?
Many citizens, in numerous states, have brought this to the attention of their state government. America is a democracy, the government listens to the people. Recently many are taking advantage of that privilege by petitioning a new minimum rate.
A low federal wage plays a role in our stagnant economy.
Four out of five economists agree that the benefits of raising and indexing the minimum wage outweigh any costs. Raising the minimum wage is a critical and simple way to help repair the weakness in our economy. It would boost consumer spending and increase the purchasing power of low-wage workers, especially in states with the highest percentages of low-wage workers, many of which also have the highest rates of poverty.