Unfair Minimum Wage

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Back in the early 1900s, harsh labor was forced upon the men, women, and children in the United States for extremely unfair wages. Eventually, after many protests for better working conditions and pay, Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. This act enforced a fair minimum wage to all working citizens, overtime restrictions, and child labor restrictions ("What is the History of the Minimum Wage"). After multiple increases to the federal minimum wage since the original 25 cents per hour standard, the current amount of $7.25 has been in effect for slightly less than a decade. Many United States citizens believe that this wage has started to become outdated as inflation, which is the general increase of prices, has continued its …show more content…
"They [employees under the age of twenty-five] made up about half of those paid the federal minimum wage or less," the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in a 2015 study (Wihbley 3). Starting out at the bottom is a great way for them to learn that not everything is handed out in life and that higher pay is exchanged for higher effort. For example, no one can simply attend just one anatomy class in college, and then expect to make $150,000 a year once they finish that semester. Similarly, a twenty-two-year-old shouldn't be able to work at McDonald's for a couple of months with the assumption that they can support a whole family. It is just not realistic. There are employees that have worked under companies for quite some years now, and when they started five to ten years ago, they more than likely started below a $7.25 an hour wage. It was slow and longing at first, but after time and effort put forth into the company, these same employees are now making $15 or more an hour, and they earned it. But, what if suddenly the federal minimum wage was raised to fifteen an hour? Those with seniority in the company will all of a sudden make the same as their newer coworkers. Now, all of their time put in seems wasted and useless. Many people claim that there are parents out there working in stores or fast-food joints and that it is not possible to raise a family off $7.25 an hour. This may be true in some cases, however many businesses do not even start employees out that low in the first place, which completely disproves their claim. Even so, the harsh truth is that these jobs were never meant to be life-long careers anyway. Now, this does not mean that someone could not make it work out long term; however, doing so is supposed to take time and effort. Letting people come into a job making a larger than necessary amount does
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