Not raising minimum wage Essay

Submitted By jdblackbelt1

Words: 546

Pages: 3

Open Document

Not Raising the Minimum Wage: More Food Stamps and Welfare
While trying to fight off a bout with the flu, Bob Smith worked his busy sixty hour week at the local hardware store. One day, while riding home on the bus after just receiving his measly paycheck, he wondered how he was going to put food on the table for his four young children and buy new shoes for two of them, who are growing like weeds. He also feels a strong obligation to help his ailing mom pay her medical bills. He could barely meet his monthly obligations to pay their utility bills, let alone have enough for everything else. Mr. Smith and many others like him ask themselves this question every day. Why should they? If only the minimum wage was raised, Mr. Smith and others would not have to worry nearly as much.
I believe that there would not be a lot of people affected by raising the minimum wage. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, “2.1% of the hourly workforce earned the minimum wage in 2012.” That means that 97.9% of 73.2 million workers in the hourly workforce earn more than the current U.S. minimum wage. Of the 2.1% of minimum wage workers, or the 1.57 million people, 45% are 25 years or older and are working to support a family. Raising the minimum wage would help put food on their tables and help to clothe their children.
Those who are against raising the minimum wage say, “Why raise it? The country is already in debt.” I believe that they are wrong! If the minimum wage is raised, the additional money that workers bring home will most likely go back into the economy. This also brings up the question of inflation. Will the price of my hamburger increase? A case review study by Sara Lemos discovered that if the minimum wage were to be raised by 10%, food prices would not likely raise more than 4% and overall prices by no more than 0.04%.
My final, and by far, most important reasons

Raising Minimum Wage

Some, however, think that the minimum wage should not be increased. The phenomenon that is ‘raising the minimum wage’ is relatively new and often times people and cities are uneducated and are unaware of the full effects of raising the minimum wage. “The fight for 15 dollars is a relatively new phenomenon” (Saltsman, 2017, p. 2). Because this is a new problem for America, it often leads people to believe it is in everyone's best interest to raise it, however it could lead to extreme consequences…

Words 676 - Pages 3

Raising Minimum Wage

the past few years, American citizens have been advocating a raise in minimum wage because the current amount they are making at minimum wage is not enough for them to live and survive on in this inflation-based world we live in now. As with any situation, there is always two sides to the argument, both of which believe they are right. On one side, Americans believe that raising minimum wage is the solution to their problem of not having an income large enough to support themselves and their families…

Words 1596 - Pages 7

Raising Minimum Wage

basic needs. Our society is in real trouble economically and without higher wage earners things are going to get a lot worse. I will discuss the impact low wages have had on society and why many believe that the minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 to $15.00 an hour. By raising minimum wage there are several benefits contrary to what some believe such as moving families above the poverty level. An increase in wages will also boost purchasing power for both the lower income families as well…

Words 1029 - Pages 5

Raising Minimum Wage

Raising the minimum wage would be a very costly action to make and may be detrimental to our society. For example, raising the minimum wage will make it more expensive to hire younger low skilled workers.If we raise the minimum wage the cost to have workers would be extremely high. Smaller business might go out of business due to high paying workers. Instead there are more effective actions to support the poor. Regardless we should have more charity events or houses for the poor. By, helping the…

Words 176 - Pages 1

Raising Minimum Wage

Raising the Minimum wage has been a very controversial topic, however most people don't know about the destructive outcomes. The minimum wage was set to protect workers from getting paid too little and to compensate with the raise in living costs. The current minimum wage is $7.25 but many think it should be raised higher. An increase in the minimum wage will lead to more problems rather than reduce them. In the United States raising the minimum wage is a major issue because it destroys jobs and…

Words 801 - Pages 4

Raising Minimum Wage

enough to make ends meet. Even though minimum wage workers work full time, the current wage rate is often not enough to bring them above the poverty threshold. Over time a strategy needs to be created and implemented to create ways for minimum wage workers to move out of the low-wage economy. Until that occurs, an immediate boost can take place by raising the minimum wage from the current pay of $7.25 an hour. This most recent push to increase the minimum wage has been taking place among workers throughout…

Words 1285 - Pages 6

Raising The Minimum Wage

Raising the minimum wage might sound nice, but in reality it will not impact society in a positive way. Living on minimum wage is not easy at all. A raise in the minimum wage is just a small measure of help for those who are in need of it most. It is a benefit without hard cost. A raise in the minimum wage seems logical, right? Wrong. Recently California was the first state to approve the $15 minimum wage. They plan to increase the minimum wage $1 every year until it reaches $15. By doing this the…

Words 1366 - Pages 6

Raising Minimum Wage

to live off of the current minimum wage. There has been extensive amounts of research done as to why the minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour to around $10.10 an hour (The Editorial Board 1). By raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, around 27.8 million people would have an increase in their pay (The Editorial Board 1). “74 percent of Americans say they want to raise the minimum wage” (Chang 2). If so many people want the minimum wage changed, then why hasn’t…

Words 343 - Pages 2

Raising Minimum Wage

think that minimum wage should be raised for the fact that a majority of families in the U.S live off minimum wage and are living in poverty, but is that necessarily true? Although raising the minimum wage may help a few people who are in poverty, it would cause more problems that it would be able to fix. Some problems that would happen are that workers wouldn’t work as hard, business owners would not make as much profit, and the economy would go down. My first reason why minimum wage should not…

Words 489 - Pages 2

Raising The Minimum Wage Essay

middle-class people they have strived to encourage raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. Although this seems like a way to fix the amount of poverty in the United States all the facts state that it will not. Raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour would have little to no effect on the poverty level in the United States because of job loss, inflation, and skills needed for an entry level job. Raising the minimum wage could prove drastic to the American economy because…

Words 776 - Pages 4