Minimum Wage Benefits

Imagine a man living on the federal minimum wage, $7.25 an hour, which runs about $1,317 a month. Rent already exceeds that in a lot of places, and that’s not even factoring in food, clothes, and other necessities. People should always be paid enough to put food on the table and then some, as that’s America’s core: being prosperous. However, without a living wage, people will decline into the disparity of poverty and be forced to live an unhappy life. Whatever a person gets paid, there’s still a monumental difference between getting paid 10 dollars an hour versus 15 dollars an hour: one pays the bills, and the other pays for bills plus recreational activities. Despite this, the federal minimum wage currently pays a minimum of $7.25 an hour, …show more content…
Even so, $7.25 an hour doesn’t meet that by $5,000! How can society say we don’t need to raise wages, especially when people get paid so little that they scarcely make enough to purchase enough food? Another thing to consider: the benefits of raising the amount people get paid to livable wages largely outweighs the cons. In fact, Paul Krugman, a politician, wrote an article and cited studies conducted and concluded that “the evidence is overwhelmingly positive: Hiking the minimum wage has little or no adverse effect on employment while significantly increasing workers’ earnings.” Increasing the amount of money people earn can increase overall happiness in everyone, and because it has an insignificant impact on employment rates it gives more room to breathe for everyone, as well. One more thing about having a living wage that even digs into the roots of America: being able to accomplish “The American Dream.” In an article published by the Huffington Post, written by Ben Jealous, he wrote, “No person can maximize the American Dream on the minimum wage,” and being able to live on a white picket …show more content…
Well, two of them say that if you make everyone forced to pay higher rates, small companies will hire less employees and might end up failing as well as the old “raising minimum wage will skyrocket our prices for everything!” argument. These claims, however, fail to meet with the reality of studies and past experiences. For instance, a poll conducted by Small Business Majority found that 60% of small business owners supported raising the minimum wage to $12 dollars an hour, and that since 1938 minimum wage has increased 22 times, each time there being only an already-going, steady increase in GDP per capita. It’s through not checking facts and not wanting change that people believe raising minimum wage means bad things but, really, people will only get more cash in their pockets. The 60% of small business owners accepting a $12 minimum wage reported that they felt it “would immediately put more money in the pocket of low-wage workers” and overall supported raising wages. And because a majority of small businesses don’t reject minimum wage, a majority of all businesses (especially big corporations) would likely choose not to hire less frequently due to having to pay more. The GDP not fluctuating in correspondence to how much employees receive heavily suggests that the economy remains unaffected by raised wages. This means that requiring businesses to give people more money would, at the end of the day,

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