The Benefits Of Raising The Minimum Wage

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What should the minimum wage be? This is a question that has been posed and answered by both sides of the political spectrum, although at the current moment it is under heated debate as to whether or not minimum wage should be raised, or stay at its current $7.25. The side with the majority however, wants to raise minimum wage. Over 3/4ths of the country wants minimum wage raised to at least $9 an hour. Minimum wage has dropped 10% since 2009, when it was last raised. So although workers may have received a raise in that time, if it was less than 10%, they are actually being paid less than they were in the past. For how high the US is when it comes to most measures of economic development, its low minimum wage comes as a surprise, and is …show more content…
Putting more money into the pockets of the poor will only strengthen the economy, as they will spend it as opposed to saving it like the rich oftentimes do. Raising minimum wage to $10.10 would directly affect the standard of living of 15 million americans, and also indirectly benefit their millions of children, whose parents struggle every day. Pushing people above the poverty line will allow them to be able to have more disposable income, that will in turn help the economy to grow and prosper. The poor spend most of their income, so obviously giving them more income to spend would only lead to them creating more demand, and in turn more jobs, as businesses then compensate for this rise in demand. This rise in demand then causes a rise in GDP, a sign of a healthy and thriving economy. Gdp has raised significantly in the past when minimum wage was higher and raising it again will cause an increase as it has in the …show more content…
Raising minimum wage would pull nearly one million people above the poverty line, and would raise the wages of 40% of americans, and affect the lives of millions of children, whose parents can now afford “luxuries” like phone and internet service. In the past minimum wage has been as high as $10.74 an hour, and for the sake of millions of working americans, needs to be there once again. Simply put, 7.25 an hour is not at all livable, at least for extended periods of time with our country 's current cost of living. One may be able to live for a while with a roommate, but if any unexpected expenses were to come into play, be it a funeral, medical expenses, or a car break down their financial situation would completely collapse. That is not living, that is just barely scraping by, and no person should work full time and be afraid when bills come in every month that they won 't be able to pay them. The economy can take a minimum wage of above 10 dollars as it has in the past, and the price we pay for it will be minimal if any. Mutltiple studies show that the raise in costs of even a $15 minimum wage would be as little as a 1 cent raise per $16 of item cost. We as a society must come together and decide that enough is enough and that full time workers

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