Why Minimum Wage should be Increased?

Throughout time minimum wage has played a big role on the way Americans make money. It has helped many people provide for themselves and their family, but with the cost of living and the economy constantly increasing it is making it harder for those who depend on a minimum wage job to be able to take care of the responsibilities they have with the little of money they are making. With the economy and cost of living constantly increasing americans are now struggling and at their lowest to make ends meet.

This is the reason why minimum wage should be increased.

Minimum wage is a part of FLSA which stands for Federal Labor Standards Act which establishes not only minimum wage but also overtime, record keeping, youth employment standards and states that people are to be paid at the starting rate of $7.25 an hour and no lower that that (Wage and Hour Division). Minimum wage is the lowest amount of money a person can be paid when working this is determined by both the state and the Federal Labor Standards Act (Jones, Derek). In 1984, New Zealand was the first to pass minimum wage jobs that covered all businesses and industries across the entire country (History of Minimum Wage). In 1938, The first federal minimum wage in America was introduced by Franklin D Roosevelt that set the starting rate at $.25 an hour (History of Minimum Wage). As of 2018 thirty states as well as a small part of wisconsin are seen to have a higher minimum wage than the federal standards, fourteen states and the rest of wisconsin have minimum wage earnings at the federal standard,two states are below the federal standard, and there are five states that minimum wage does not apply(Minimum Wage Laws in the State). The states who minimum wage does not apply to or make lower than the amount is because they are wanting to keep the money invested in the company instead of the people who work for them, as long as there is no state minimum they are allowed to make up the starting rates of those who work for them (Tritch, Theresa). As of July 2017, Washington was recognized to have the highest minimum wage rate of $12.50 and is predicted to increase to $13.25 (Jones, Derek). As of 2015, 2,561,000 workers the age of sixteen and above either earn the federal minimum wage or are making lower than $7.25 an hour(Should Minimum Wage be Increase?). In 2014, The Minimum Wage Fairness Act was passed for the third time allowing for minimum wage to be raised to $10.10 and was being supported by obama but did not pass by four votes.

Minimum Wage should be increased for many of reason it would help those provide for their families, decrease the rate of poverty and will allow for the economy to grow. In the United States the poverty level is 12.7% which is about 43 million Americans and will continue to increase due to the cost of living and people not being able to pay the bills needed in order to have a home to live in. Federal minimum wages are not enough to support a family or even those who are single parents. It is said that with both parents working a minimum wage job they would have to work a minimum of 4 hourly wage jobs or a total of 76 hours per parent, but for those who are single parents they would have to work twice that to make at least a normal living wage. Minimum wage workers are known to save and are always on a tight budget because of the fact they are living from paycheck to paycheck to secure their place they live in and to be able to have a meal everyday. If minimum wage was to be increased many of these people who live paycheck to paycheck and are very tight with their money would no longer have to worry and would be able to go out and enjoy the money they work hard for not only that they would be able to breath and live at ease with knowing they are going to be able to pay for their things without any problem. Also, If minimum wage was to be increased it would change how middle class and the lower paid workers were seen they would all be seen as equal and it would also change the inequality that makes them different. A $15 minimum wage would begin to reverse decades of growing pay inequality between the lowest-paid workers and the middle class (Why America Needs a $15 Minimum Wage). Also, According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty (ProCon). Just raising the minimum wage to two dollars would help make a change in the economy and helps those who are in poverty that are trying to make ends meet and want to have a better living situation not only for themselves but for their family as well.

If both republicans and employers are not for increasing minimum wages it is to be believed that job opportunities and the economy would get worse before it gets better. We will begin to live in a society with lazy people or also allowing technology to run the jobs humans once did just to decrease the amount of money the company has to come out to pay the workers. You order at a kiosk and pick up your food at the counter, or scan and bag your own items. (Wolfram). With technology increasing and minimum wage workers wanting to be paid more this will affect not only the workers but the many job opportunities we once had and the amount of people being hired will all decrease within time. In the Maine house they have held of the republican bid to slow down increasing minimum wage because the dollar increasing is to be unreasonable and should instead take the $.50 increase (Mistler). Republicans has chosen to slow down increasing minimum wages because they are trying to create and help the small business and the rural area to make them look good and show that they are helping the community when in reality they are really doing this for themselves and not the actual people they are trying to keep as much as they can for themselves. By not increasing the minimum wage just a dollar people are out there continuing to 2 or more jobs just to be able to make it by they are not being helped or worried about because republicans believe in selfish and is unreasonable when people are out struggling not because they want to but because they are not making enough.

Minimum wage plays a huge role on how people live and the amount of people in poverty because of the minimum wage not increasing. Minimum wage should be increased to allow people who are tight with money and are constantly worrying on how they are going to pay their bill can finally be at ease, but not only that it would also help decrease the amount of people in poverty and it would also better our economy.

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