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Social impacts on increasing the minimum wage
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Social impacts on increasing the minimum wage
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Raising the minimum wage Introduction I. Attention Getter: Per capita, Idaho is ranked number one in the nation – Number one, when it comes to paying workers as little as possible. II. Topic Orientation: The U.S. Bureau of Labor estimates that 31,000 or 7.7 percent of all Idaho’s workers are paid the current national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour or less. (Maben) A. Idaho has the highest percentage of minimum-wage workers per capita of any state. (Maben) B. The overall poverty rate among Idaho residents climbed to 16.0 percent in 2012, from 11.8 percent in 1999. (U.S. Bureau of the Census) C. In the State of the Union, President Obama observed that "In the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty." (Hiltzik) III. Credibility Statement: A. The current federal minimum wage of $7.25 should be increased in stages to $10.10 by 2016. IV. Preview of two arguments: The minimum wage should be raised for two main reasons A. Increasing the minimum wage would help the families of low paid workers and reduce the number of people living in poverty. B. Raising the minimum wage will provide a needed boost to the American economy and in the long run be good for business. Transition: Last year the federal minimum wage celebrated its 75th birthday last week as part of the federal 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act. The Act banned child labor, set a 44 hour maximum workweek, and guaranteed a minimum wage of 25 cents an hour. (Hitzik) Since then Congress has raised the rate 23 times. (USDOL) Body I. First Argument: More and more families are falling behind because the minimum wage has not kept up with the rate of inflation. A. In the past there have been... ... middle of paper ... ... Percentage of Workers Paid Minimum Wage." The Spokesman-Review. 28 FEB. 2013: www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/feb/28/idaho-leads-in-percentage-of- workers-paid-minimum/ Stilwell, Victoria, Peter Robinson, and William Seleway. “Highest Minimum-Wage State Washington Beats U.S. in Job Creation.” Bloomberg L.P. 07 MAR. 2014. www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-05/washington-shows-highest-minimum-wage-state- beats-u-s-with-jobs.html U.S. Census Bureau. 2012. “Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children” [Excel file]. www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html U.S. Bureau of the Census. 2013. “Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates, 2000-2012.” www.census.gov//did/www/saipe/ U.S. Department of Labor. 2014. “History of Federal Minimum Wage Rates Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 1938 – 2009.” www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/chart.htm
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
Poverty in America is a very complex issue that can be looked at from many directions. There are a plethora of statistics and theories about poverty in America that can be confusing and at times contradicting. It is important to objectively view statistics to gain a better understanding of poverty and to wade through the stereotypes and the haze of cultural views that can misrepresent the situation.The official poverty line in America begins with a person making at or below $12,060. To calculate the poverty line for a family, an additional $4,180 is added to the base of $12,060 for each additional member(“Federal Poverty Level Guidelines”). According to the last U.S. census, over 45 million or 14.5% of Americans are at or below the poverty line(Worstall). At this level, the U.S. poverty level has not changed much from the 1970s when the government began a “War on Poverty.” However,
The United States minimum wage is not indexed to inflation. Due to this fact, the purchasing power of minimum wage falls as the price of consumer goods increases. The current hourly minimum wage is set at $7.25, however many states do pay above this rate. One example of this is in Michigan, the current hourly minimum wage is $7.40. The last time a change occurred to raise minimum wage was in 2009. President Obama has put out a proposal that is designed to raise the federally required hourly minimum wage to $10.10 in 2015. The public opinion of this proposal is all over the board ranging from a positive outlook to a negative one. Some of the negative remarks are that it would dampen the economy and shrink the hiring done by small businesses. “The Household Survival Budget for the average New Jersey family of four is $58,500 and for a single adult is $25,368 in 2010. These numbers highl...
For the past year I have watched my younger sister struggle to support herself and her now 11 month old baby. She makes more than minimum wage. She has struggled to the point where she was evicted and now lives with me. I have also experienced struggling on low pay. When I was 18 I was kicked out of my family’s house, and I was only making $8 an hour. There were days where I had to choose between paying rent and getting my electricity shut off, just because I couldn’t work enough hours to pay all of my bills. It can be very scary to only make minimum wage and have to support yourself. There are changes that need to be made so that every person can live properly with any job.
Here are some facts about Idaho’s economy. Most Idahoans work in schools or national parks and forests. Each year, tourists spend more than $1 billion in Idaho. They spend most of their money on hotels and ski resorts. About 57% of Idahoans live in or near cities. 43% of Idahoans live on farms or in small towns. Idaho’s farmers grow 13.8 billi...
The Web. The Web. 16 Feb. 2014. " U.S. Department of Labor - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - Minimum Wage."
In America, you are considered to be in poverty if you have to grow your own food, or you have a job making minimum wage, or live on government assistance. The U.S. Census uses the same poverty thresholds throughout the U.S. without deference for geographic location, but they are updated for inflation using Consumer Price Index (Commerce). Wage increases have not kept up with the increases in the cost of living, Americans 65 and older had the largest increases in poverty under the revised formula, from 9.1 percent to 14.8 percent, mostly because of medical expenses such as increases in Medicare supplement premiums. Statistical evidence about poverty is a topic that tends to come up in discussions about economic hardship, yet the issue has all but disappeared from the legislative agenda as lawmakers focus on deficit reduction.
One way raising minimum wage will be beneficial is that it could lift many Americans out of poverty. Raising the minimum wage in Illinois, would help the families of more than 1.1 million workers who work to meet their children’s basic needs and “reduce the adverse effects of poverty on a child’s well-being” (Fiscal Policy Center). Studies have shown that raising the minimum wage would help 1 in 5 Illinois families who are in poverty. By raising the minimum wage in Illinois, it would help workers with families spend money on food, housing, gas, and other needs without going into poverty. Along with puling Americans out of poverty, raising the minimum wage could also stimulate economic growth. Raising the minimum wage, is stimulating economic growth by worsening the income inequality and substantially reducing the employee turnover for the business. Increasing a person’s income would raise their yearly earnings by $3,640 and “Improve the economic security and reduce the economies poverty rate” (Fiscal Policy Center). Low-wage workers spend most of what they earn on their basic needs, which is quickly spent and does not leave the worker with much money left to spend on other needs. This boost in the minimum wage will stimulate the economy and help create opportunities for more people, by hiring more workers to keep up with the
Minimum wage is a difficult number to decide on because it affects different income earning citizens in different ways. According to Principles of Microeconomics, by N. Gregory Mankiw, minimum wage is a law that establishes the lowest price for labor that and employer may pay (Mankiw 6-1b). Currently, the minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour. For many years politicians and citizens have argued on what should be the minimum wage that would benefit the economy and society in general. A minimum wage was first established in 1938 to increase the standard of living of lower class workers. To discuss what is better for the country and its citizens, people have to understand what is a minimum wage and what are its effects.
A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The first minimum wage was just 25 cents an hour in 1938. Can you imagine surviving off of 25 cents an hour? Now just over 70 years later the federal minimum wage is now 7.25. The question at hand is the federal minimum wage enough to meet the minimum requirement for a good, happy and healthy life? Some states and cities say no. While a select few states and cities have mirrored the federal minimum wage of 7.25, some states have placed their state or city/county minimum wage marginally higher than the federal minimum wage. So why would some states prefer to have a higher level than required by the federal minimum wage when some state have decided to match or even go below the federal minimum wage level. The answer to this question lies within each state city and county and how they perceive the cost of living in the presiding area. Minimum wage needs a makeover in America despite some of the negative effects that may come along with it. This paper will explore the reasons behind federal and state minimum wages and why some of them differ among states counties and cities across America.
Congress created minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The first minimum wage was only 25 centers per hour. Through history the minimum wage has increased a little at a time, umping a couple cents each time. The last time the United States changed the minimum wage was in 2007 which was a large jump from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 per hour. This jump of $2.10 was a large increase. Through the years it is evident that the minimum wage is constantly changing. “. It has averaged $6.60 an hour in purchasing power in 2013 dollars. But it has ranged from a low of $3.09 an hour in late 1948 to a high of $8.67 an hour in 1968(Sherk, J. (2013, June 25).
...e, but in the end it is up to the states and government to increase minimum wage across the U.S. So just think about what would be the best option for our country, and support that choice because the argument for increasing minimum wage has been going on for a long time and will keep going on into the future.
Pyke, Alan. "The Minimum Wage: Myths & Facts." Media Matters for America. N.p., 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 18 May 2014.
Today the federal minimum wage is $5.15, but should be about $8.50 if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $5.15 may not seen that bad, when factoring in such variables as sky rocketing gas prices, budgets can get pretty tight. David Shepard, a sophomore at Wayne State University, worked at a Meijer Retail and Grocery Superstore for over two years while in high school. At the time Shepard lived with his parents and didn’t have to worry about paying rent or buying groceries, all that he had to pay for was filling up his gas tank and paying for his car insurance. Shepard recalled, “It was all I could do to pay for the basics like gas and bill’s, I barely had any money to have fun on the weekends”. This is only an example of a high school student that can nearly slip by on minimum wage with only a few expenses. There are 1.8 million people in America with children under the age of 18 that would benefit from an increase in minimum wage (Minimum).
Option 1 is for Congress to not change the federal minimum wage and to keep the current amount at $7.25 per hour. One advantage of this option is that some small businesses and companies would not be forced to close due to lower pay rate (Minimum Wage - ProCon.org., n.d.). Another advantage is that employers would be able to hire more unskilled workers and retain employees, which would potentially lead to less layoffs (Jamieson, 2014; Sherman, 2014). One disadvantage to not increasing the federal minimum wage is that many workers would not be able to achieve standard of living and more households would be making incomes that are either at or below the poverty level (Leigh, 2016; Tsao et al., 2016). This also means that the poverty rate and