Persuasive Essay On Living Wage
Should a person working 40-hour work weeks earn enough to ensure they have an adequate standard of living? Of course, people shouldn’t be working for poverty wages, but the reality is that raising the federal minimum wage to a “living wage” is a more complex fix to the issue than many politicians have suggested.
In a nation as geographically diverse and expansive as the United States, the living wage, or the wage necessary to maintain an adequate standard of living within a community, varies widely from state to state, county to county, and even district to district. This has lead to a wide spectrum of opinions on the topic, dividing the debate along and within party lines. Hence, a $10.74 federal minimum wage, the average living wage of the …show more content…
The wage hike raises almost all traditionally conservative states in the South, Midwest, and Southwest above a wage of poverty and to a reasonable living wage standard (Glasmeier). This change not only increases the income of workers without significant effects on employment, it demonstrates a fundamental understanding of the need for cheap labor in predominantly agrarian areas.
Furthermore, the wage doesn’t impede liberal cities and states who want to experiment with higher minimum wages from doing so. Already, one can see the city of Seattle and the states of New York and California begin the process of becoming laboratories of economic and social policy by initiating their own paths to $15 per hour minimum wages (Blood).
Consequently, the next few years are a crucial opportunity for proponents of a higher minimum wage to initiate pragmatic and just change. People can continue struggling for the improbable and unproven $15 federal minimum wage, or they can push for the steady and reliable $10.74 federal minimum wage, index it to inflation to avoid depreciation over time, and put this debate to rest, federally at least. A $10.74 federal minimum wage is the “living wage” worth fighting for and it has the potential of being the momentous change low-wage workers, the economy, and America need moving
In a nation as geographically diverse and expansive as the United States, the living wage, or the wage necessary to maintain an adequate standard of living within a community, varies widely from state to state, county to county, and even district to district. This has lead to a wide spectrum of opinions on the topic, dividing the debate along and within party lines. Hence, a $10.74 federal minimum wage, the average living wage of the …show more content…
The wage hike raises almost all traditionally conservative states in the South, Midwest, and Southwest above a wage of poverty and to a reasonable living wage standard (Glasmeier). This change not only increases the income of workers without significant effects on employment, it demonstrates a fundamental understanding of the need for cheap labor in predominantly agrarian areas.
Furthermore, the wage doesn’t impede liberal cities and states who want to experiment with higher minimum wages from doing so. Already, one can see the city of Seattle and the states of New York and California begin the process of becoming laboratories of economic and social policy by initiating their own paths to $15 per hour minimum wages (Blood).
Consequently, the next few years are a crucial opportunity for proponents of a higher minimum wage to initiate pragmatic and just change. People can continue struggling for the improbable and unproven $15 federal minimum wage, or they can push for the steady and reliable $10.74 federal minimum wage, index it to inflation to avoid depreciation over time, and put this debate to rest, federally at least. A $10.74 federal minimum wage is the “living wage” worth fighting for and it has the potential of being the momentous change low-wage workers, the economy, and America need moving