Essay On Minimum Wage

566 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The effect of minimum wage laws

Prosperity or Beginning of the End Have you ever questioned, can a single mom or a low-wage worker really survive on minimum wage? If one takes the time to simply calculate what they would need to earn to survive, one might be surprised to see, that minimum wage isn't enough. Is there any possible way for a person who has found themselves in this kind of predicament to rise above poverty? In this essay I hope to prove although the welfare reform was meant to and can help people get back on their feet, it has mostly only further handicapped them. Even though the Welfare reform was intended to help the poor reach prosperity, it has enabled them stay dependent on the government. Welfare offers help to single mothers and low-wage workers in hopes to help them better their lives. The agencies take their information, requesting copies to verify income and expenses, and then files their claim. Often the benefits that are received are beyond what one could make working a minimum wage job. A single mother raising 3 children without a job, could receive $450 per month for food or more. If needing help to paying electric or gas that is available also. Housing assistance, and even TV and phone service can be obtained in some …show more content…

The answer is no”(68). Low-wage workers actually would have to work two jobs to make ends meet. This hardship can deprive one of self-value and worth. Ehrenreich also demonstrates a problem working two jobs when she says, “during a dead time when I finally sit down to wrap silver, my flesh seems to bond to the seat”(78). Exhaustion is inevitable, so why not place yourself in the mercy of the welfare state. After all in these low-wage jobs all you receive is insults and stress, instead of it morally uplifting

Show More
Related

  • Linda Gordon's Welfare System

    303 Words  | 1 Pages

    Linda Gordon's article is thoughtful, insightful and highly relevant. As governments slash poverty relief programs at all levels and as welfare-bashing reaches an all-time high, it is instructive to take a step back and look at how the current system developed.

    Read More

  • One Nation On Welfare By Michael Grunwald Summary

    894 Words  | 2 Pages

    When speaking about Welfare we try to avoid it, turning welfare into an unacceptable word. In the Article “One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life On The Dole” by Michael Grunwald, his point is to not just only show but prove to the readers that the word Welfare is not unacceptable or to avoid it but embrace it and take advantage of it. After reading this essay Americans will see the true way of effectively understanding the word welfare, by absorbing his personal experiences, Facts and Statistics, and the repetition Grunwald conveys.

    Read More

  • Barbara Ehrenreich's Research and Economic Findings in Nickel and Dimed

    920 Words  | 2 Pages

    For her book, Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America, Barbara Ehrenreich, a middle-aged female investigative journalist, assumed the undercover position of a newly divorced housewife returning to work after several years of unemployment. The premise for Ehrenreich to go undercover in this way was due to her belief that a single mother returning to work after years of being on welfare would have a difficult time providing for her family on a low or minimum wage. Her cover story was the closest she could get to that of a welfare mother since she had no children and was not on welfare. During the time she developed the idea for the book, “roughly four million women about to be booted into the labor market by welfare reform” were going to have to survive on a $6 or $7 an hour wage; the wage of the inexperienced and uneducated. This paper will discuss Ehrenreich's approach to the research, her discoveries, and the economic assumptions we can make based on the information presented in her book.

    Read More

  • America's Semi-Welfare State

    1877 Words  | 4 Pages

    The prospect of the welfare state in America appears to be bleak and almost useless for many citizens who live below the poverty line. Katz’s description of the welfare state as a system that is “partly public, partly private, partly mixed; incomplete and still not universal; defeating its own objectives” whereas has demonstrates how it has become this way by outlining the history of the welfare state which is shown that it has been produced in layers. The recent outcomes that Katz writes about is the Clinton reform in 1996 where benefits are limited to a period of two years and no one is allowed to collect for more than five years in their lifetime unless they are exempted. A person may only receive an exemption on the grounds of hardship in which states are limited to granting a maximum of 20% of the recipient population. The logic behind this drastic measure was to ensure that recipients would not become dependent upon relief and would encourage them to seek out any form of employment as quickly as possible. State officials have laid claim to this innovation as a strategy that would “save millions of children from poverty.” However, state officials predict otherwise such as an increase in homelessness, a flooding of low-waged workers in the labour market, and decreased purchasing power which means less income from tax collections. The outcomes of this reform appear to be bleak for many Americans who reside below the poverty line. How does a wealthy country like America have such weak welfare system? Drawing upon Katz, I argue that the development of the semi-welfare state is a result of the state taking measures to ensure that the people do not perceive relief as a right and to avoid exploiting the shortfalls of capitalism ...

    Read More

  • Raising Minimum Wage Essay

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Welfare Reform

    1609 Words  | 4 Pages

    In today’s America, there are many people who would either be disgusted at the very mention of Welfare or be highly grateful for its existence. I believe that in order for welfare to be more effective in America, there must be reform. From the time of its inceptions in 1935, welfare has lent a helping hand to many in crisis (Constitution Rights Foundation). However, at present many programs within the system are being abused and the people who are in real need are being cheated out of assistance. The year after the creation of welfare unemployment was just about twenty percent (Unemployment Statistics). The need for basic resources to survive was unparallel. Today, many people face the same needs as many did during the 30s. Some issues with

    Read More

  • Welfare and Government Assistance Policy Recommendations

    690 Words  | 2 Pages

    Being raised in a single-parent lower class home, I realize first-hand the need for welfare and government assistance programs. I also realize that the system is very complex and can become a crutch to people who become dependent and complacent. As a liberal American I do believe that the government should provide services to the less fortunate and resources to find work. However, as able-bodied citizens we should not become complacent with collecting benefits and it is the government’s job to identify people who take advantage of the system and strip benefits from people who are not making efforts to support themselves independently. I will identify errors that exist within the welfare system and several policy recommendations to implement a change that will counteract the negative conditions that currently exist.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Welfare

    515 Words  | 2 Pages

    Welfare is the most common method for the poor citizens in the United States. It provides cash support to low-income families with children, mainly raised by a single mothers. This occurs in the 1990s. The welfare reform has some very positive effects on people’s lives. The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program was founded in the year 1996 (Cozic 47). This exceptional reform forced work requirements for the programs. These requirements which were given to a large amount of people and by the use of agreements it would cut off benefits for people who did not cooperate. The reform also enforced bounds on the reception of benefits. Welfare has had an impact on parents and children lives for years; but case studies are repeatedly saying there isn’t enough money to supply these families; at some point the government should consider another way to provider direct assistance for families suffering from these cases. As a result of the reform, the program was deeply affected and things changed drastically: single mothe...

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Minimum Wage

    1109 Words  | 3 Pages

    For many people in the United States, life is no more than a regular work cycle. Members of working class usually have a High School diploma and may work in a low skilled occupation or manual labor. Most of the enjoying age of this people is spent in working, as they don’t want their new once to have a life they struggling through. Therefore, this essay will argue that minimum wage should be increased federally to $15/hour by 2017. Firstly, if taxes touches the sky, why should the minimum wage be on the ground? Increasing minimum wages would also create new opportunities for education as the students wouldn’t have to work crazy hours. Likewise, many couples won’t have to work multiple jobs in order to manage the household. Lastly, it will lift

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On The Welfare System

    906 Words  | 2 Pages

    Welfare is the modern day Robin Hood, robbing the rich and middle working class to support the poor. Our current welfare system has reached a record level of over 109,000,000 means tested recipients. (U.S. Census) Means tested is a process in which the government analyzes your ability to take care of your family without their assistance through subsidized aid. Some of the more popular government aid programs include Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). With all the different government aid programs available now, the lines between social classes become blurred. The morality of taking free money is questioned, despite knowing where it comes from, and how hard people have to

    Read More

  • Essay On Minimum Wage In Australia

    456 Words  | 1 Pages

    The “Fair” Work Commission has ruled that over six hundred and fifty thousand Australians working in retail and hospitality, would have their penalty rates diminished at the government's decisions to scrap weekend penalty rates. Unfortunately for some workers, they are amongst the lowest paid in the country and as a result of, Sundays and public holidays, essentially a day for Australians to “rest”, will have workers on those days being paid less. Many Australians will become disheartened by this decision as Australia swears to have a proud nation of democracy and many of our workers who already are enduring assiduous physical work at a very low pay already will have their pay slashed even further.

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage Thesis

    254 Words  | 1 Pages

    72.9 million Americans aged 16 and above were working hourly wages in the year 2010. The United States as the leader of the modern age should take action to increase the wealth of the minimum wage worker. The United States, is one of the economic superpowers of the world, and yet 58.8% of the workers in the United States are paid hourly.

    Read More

  • Raising Minimum Wage Essay

    483 Words  | 1 Pages

    Raising the minimum wage would help reduce the need for Government Assistance programs. A government assistance program is a government funded federal aid available to low income families, programs includes: Medicare which is an income based health insurance, WIC, the Women Infants and Children Nutrition program that provides supplemental foods to women and children, Section 8 or the Housing Act of 1937 which authorizes the payment of rental housing assistance to low income households, and Food Stamps which provides food purchasing assistance. These programs were put in place to assist the unemployed and the underemployed with financial assistance after the Great Depression under the Social Security Act of 1935, which established a number

    Read More

  • Increasing Minimum Wage Essay

    595 Words  | 2 Pages

    Basically, the states see such a need to increase their employees wages, they increased their pay more than the minimum.

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage Argumentative Essay

    1423 Words  | 3 Pages

    For the past three decades minimum wage has been seen to rise several times. Only helping some but more than anything harming most. So who are the ones feeling the effects? Certainly not the wealthy, it never is them, mainly it would be the working poor, unskilled and teenagers. Raising minimum wage would cripple the public even more than what it would actually help.

    Read More

More about Essay On Minimum Wage

Open Document