Minimum Wage Debate

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The great argument over minimum wage has been in discussion throughout this past election; it continues to be an ongoing issue brought up by the people of the United States. The last two standing presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, had opposing arguments to the the question of “should we raise minimum wage?”. Both of these candidates had plans and deals that would have sung the answer to this question in two different ways. Webster's Dictionary definition for minimum wage is “the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid; specifically : a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons” No where does the definition …show more content…
The United States Department of Labor states that “Minimum wage was put into effect in 1938”; back then the “minimum wage was just $.25”, this would be equivalent to a $4 base pay today. The act that put this into effect was the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which was introduced by president Franklin Roosevelt. Since The Unites States Department of Labor released nation wide information regarding the implement of a minimum wage “there has been 12 different wage raises by 12 different presidents”.According the the article, History of the Minimum Wage by Apurva Bose, “The United States is purposely set up not to rise with inflation. Minimum wage can only rise with congressional action. In other words, if the 12 presidents never raised minimum wage over the years, then we would still be getting paid a minimum of 25 cents per hour for our work”. “The last minimum wage raise was in 2009 by presidents Barack Obama from $6.55 to $7.25”. Over the years since the $7.25 pay raise “there has been no sufficient influx of money” in the united states, in order to match the $7.25 in today's money, it could only be moved up to $7.80. People around the nation are arguing a significant wage increase of $15 per hour. The question being challenged is, is 7.25 a livable …show more content…
There will never be a doctor making $7.25. In the United States education holds a price. It is imagined that as someone grows in age their level of education grows with them. In many cases this is not the case, with high school dropouts and outstanding college tuition, many will not further their education past high school. The answer to the question “is minimum wage livable?”, the answer is simply no. According to the Living Wage calculator mathematically calculated by MIT.edu, the livable wage for a single adult working 2080 hours a year is $11.35 per hour, yet poverty wage is averaged at $5 dollars per hour. It would make sense that the government minimum wage is strategically placed at $7.25 per hour. A minimum wage was inset by the government to make sure unskilled labor workers were in fact getting paid. The market for skilled labor workers continues to grow while the amount of unskilled labor workers grow. Most minimum wage jobs were designed to be temporary jobs; not a life long career. Minimum wage jobs include working part time at a fast food joint or a cashier at the local grocery store. These are stepping stone jobs used to help young adults entering the working field to understand how a job works. People are spending more time protesting that there needs to be a higher minimum wage when they could be using that time and energy on progressing themselves
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