Income inequality is a big issue in socioeconomics justices, as always. While the U.S total personal incomes are growth higher, the income gap is getting wider, especially for those who are making minimum wage. Among the government’s efforts to narrow the income gap, minimum wage seems the only solution. In his final State of the Union address on January 12th, 2016, President Obama has proposed and asked the Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to 10.10 dollars an hour and indexing it to inflation thereafter. President Obama has praised and gave his support to minimum wage increased in 40 cities and counties, 17 states and the District of Columbia. Mr. President said that he “believe that in this new economy, workers and start-ups and
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On the one hand, Social justice activists are actively advocating and lobbying for a higher minimum wage; their chief claiming is that the current minimum wage, federal or states, is inadequate for the basic living standard of the poor in today 's economic environment. On the other hand, fiscal conservatives and numbers of economists’ counterclaim were that raising the minimum wage would hurt employers and is detrimental to the economy as a whole. While both sides of the arguments are backed up with countless number of surveys, statistics and studies, the undeniable evident that an average minimum wage earner who works eight hours a day for an average of 350 days a year would bring home an income of 14,500 dollars before taxes, this income is certainly insufficient to support more than one person. Let look at some statistic to see how many of the U.S workers are the misfortune, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2015 the United States have about 78.3 million workers age 16 or older were paid with the hourly wage, which representing about 58.6 percent of all salary and wage employees. Of those employees paid with the hourly wage, there are 870,000 of them earned the current federal minimum wage of 7.25 dollars per hour. For those of the tip earners, there are about 1.7 million had their wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 2.6 million workers are made up only 3.3 percent of all hourly paid workers; this number had declined from 3.9 percent in 2014. The 3.3 percent is the lowest percentage since 1979 when the data for hourly-paid workers were regularly collected. For these 2.6 million of U.S minimum wage workers, while their income of 14,500 dollars before taxes are certainly insufficient to support their families, this income, however, is 122% of the 2016 Federal Poverty Line of one person, and
On the one hand, Social justice activists are actively advocating and lobbying for a higher minimum wage; their chief claiming is that the current minimum wage, federal or states, is inadequate for the basic living standard of the poor in today 's economic environment. On the other hand, fiscal conservatives and numbers of economists’ counterclaim were that raising the minimum wage would hurt employers and is detrimental to the economy as a whole. While both sides of the arguments are backed up with countless number of surveys, statistics and studies, the undeniable evident that an average minimum wage earner who works eight hours a day for an average of 350 days a year would bring home an income of 14,500 dollars before taxes, this income is certainly insufficient to support more than one person. Let look at some statistic to see how many of the U.S workers are the misfortune, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2015 the United States have about 78.3 million workers age 16 or older were paid with the hourly wage, which representing about 58.6 percent of all salary and wage employees. Of those employees paid with the hourly wage, there are 870,000 of them earned the current federal minimum wage of 7.25 dollars per hour. For those of the tip earners, there are about 1.7 million had their wages below the federal minimum. Together, these 2.6 million workers are made up only 3.3 percent of all hourly paid workers; this number had declined from 3.9 percent in 2014. The 3.3 percent is the lowest percentage since 1979 when the data for hourly-paid workers were regularly collected. For these 2.6 million of U.S minimum wage workers, while their income of 14,500 dollars before taxes are certainly insufficient to support their families, this income, however, is 122% of the 2016 Federal Poverty Line of one person, and