In order for America to live up to its expectations we need a raise in the minimum wage. America has talked about raising the minimum wage for too long and we still haven’t seen changes in the wage. The people that need it most are families and low-class workers and with the price of living going up they are going to need it even more. The struggle of living and the cost is a problem minimum wage can fix and it can provide comfort for living instead of an all the time struggle for providing the fee of living. America needs a fair raise that isn’t going to be too much but enough for the price of living, as it is going up. Raising the minimum wage is great for the American dream and will also benefit the economy, increase productivity, and customer satisfaction.
Raising the minimum wage to a fair wage is the right move as instead of causing unemployment, it will make employment rates go up. A raised minimum wage will affect the population positively while also helping the economy so why not raise the wage? The wage has been unmoved for to long for reasons that aren’t accurate, and facts prove that. More money per hour will give people a better reason to work making employment better and more worth the time of the workers. As long as the minimum wage is at its low, it will continue to negatively affect people in the lower-class, not providing enough money for living and also continue to lose value.
Minimum wage is to low and this is causing problems for many, especially those in the lower class who need it the most. The questions following a raise in minimum wage is what benefits come out from it and who its effects. Some people are in decline of a raise in minimum wage due to their belief that it will cause unemployment, especially teenage unemployment due to people not living up to the new expectations of a raised wage. “But a new study by Princeton economists David Card and Alan Krueger plays havoc with this analysis. They show that recent rises in state and federal minimum wages led to increases, not decreases, in the number of workers employed. The Princeton authors call this pattern very, very ‘robust’: it holds up under a wide variety of circumstances, places and times.” (A Too-Low Minimum Wage Keeps All Wages Down) The repeated problem of the current wage is that it doesn’t pay the bills that these people are working so hard for. “The laws are typically preceded by detailed research on the local cost of living, with numbers on housing, transportation, health care, child care, food, taxes, and other necessities drawn from public data sources.”(Minimum Wage or Living Wage) The problem with this is that not all states are following this detailed research leaving problems for people who need a raised wage the most.
A fair minimum wage should at least be enough to pay the full amount of bills, without public assistance, in return for the long work hours these people put in. The fee of living is way too out of range with the current minimum wage. A single parent who is working full time with a family of two kids living in Los Angles. In order for the single parent to pay to the bills, he/she would need $17.68 an hour, or a two-parent family, with two jobs would need $10.75 per hour each, proving again that minimum wage is too low. (Minimum Wage or “Living” Wage?) Some businesses start their pay over the minimum wage making for more long-lasting employees and ongoing good customer service. With a wage to low it doesn’t make for good work ethic. Business in competition with a business that starts workers over the minimum wage showed results of employee turnover, constant training costs, and customers always being unsatisfied. The workers that started working above the minimum wage provide great value for the company and we see overall better results than the competition. The good news is that the people of America are way ahead of Washington D.C. and their slow decision making. States are starting to pass the laws to raise their minimum wage, with Connecticut being the first state to raise it to $10.10 a hour with many states following. This is good but there is still one group of people that raise the minimum wage for the entire country and that’s Congress. The bill that the senate would vote on would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. This bill would positively affect 28 million Americans across the country. Right away, this new wage of $10.10 per hour would take millions out of poverty and help many get out of poverty. It will also give businesses more customers with more money to spend, overall just helping the economy said Barack Obama in the article, “Time to Give America a Raise.”
The Question is that if we do raise the minimum wage what would it be raised to? What would be an overall fair wage across the country? With states already moving their current wage up, it’s really up to congress to make this decision. But many republicans in congress are locked into opposition. A republican in congress said to completely scrap the minimum wage while others in congress would vote to repeal minimum wage, if they could. Some say that a raise in minimum wage is giving too much to the people in the lower class. They want instead a better education system and programs that offer a better job preparation. In this case why not give them both. What would really help the lower class and the income gap would be a slight raise in the minimum wage and programs put in place to help with certain skills needed for jobs. The problem with this is that politicians who oppose the minimum wage don’t seem to go to logical reasoning with the lower-class. Besides the politicians opposing a raise in minimum wage think, facts disprove them, and three fourths of America supports a raise in minimum wage. With America on the side of a raise in minimum wage, it leaves the question what would be an overall fair wage for the country. “The laws are typically preceded by detailed research on the local cost of living, with numbers on housing, transportation, health care, child care, food, taxes, and other necessities drawn from public data sources.”(Minimum Wage or Living Wage) What seems to be answer is $10.10 per hour, or at least the most discussed.
The push for $10.10 per hour has been going on for years now, ever since Barack Obama was president but also is the movement on which lower-class workers are fighting for known as the “fight for 15.” The fight for 15 has actually succeed in some places like Los Angles, New York, San Francisco, Seattle but what you notice about these places is that these are high cost cities and that’s why they are on a road to success for the fight for 15. The wage fit for 15 per hour is obviously not a fit for everywhere. It could make sense for places like in Brooklyn where parking can be a pain and cost up to 30$ a day whereas in other areas for 35$ they get parking space for a month. This explains why other rural and low-costing areas choose to go with lower minimum wages like $8.50 or $9.75, facts coming from the article “A Smarter Minimum Wage.” This shows why the national minimum wage needs to recognize the cost of living and labor markets to determine what their wage should be. In order to do this, they need to find a wage that fits and lifts the maximum amount of people out of poverty. The standard could be set by calculating one-half of the median wage for the hourly, nonsupervisory wage worker in America. About a year ago this was rounded to 10.90 per hour.
Raising the minimum wage is right and there only a matter of time before it is actually done. What seems to be really weird is why is it now that wages are finally starting to rise. Economist observe that when unemployment falls, wages rise. This makes sense because higher pay attracts workers. Economists are confused because unemployment rate is at multi-decade lows and wages are still not rising as models say they should be. The recent growth in minimum wage suggests that unemployment rate doesn’t make the job market look as good as it seems. Another thing is that the government’s definition of unemployment is quite narrow. Their definition only counts people actively looking for work meaning it leaves out many students, stay-home parents or others who may have wanted jobs if they were available. This helps explain why they haven’t been forced to raise wages faster. If the politicians really did care much about the minimum wage they would propose multiple solutions to this problem. A moderate wage increase, better education, smarter job training, and tax credit that target those who need it the most. It’s obvious that the politicians are not here for the side of this. They show a lousy job at expressing the problem and explaining it’s a lot more than just the money per hour. This is why states have stopped waiting for Congress to pass this act of minimum wage and started to raise it themselves.
Raising the minimum wage is proven beneficial by facts and the evidence is clearly seen in the states that have already raised the minimum wage. In order for America to be the country we tend to live up to be, we must listen to the people. Three-fourths of America are on the side of a raised minimum wage, and it is proven to help with the growth of the economy, leaving only a matter of time before congresses passes the law for the minimum wage to be raised. An increased minimum wage will benefit the economy, increase productivity, and customer satisfaction making it great for the American Dream. The whole problem with this is that America can do better and that we aren’t.
