Minimum Wage Increase: Is It Effective? The whole world revolves around money. Billions and billions of dollars are transferred from one place to the other, with someone constantly paying for something. Prices go up, up, up, and many in today’s society are complaining that the wages aren’t doing the same. So, what’s the solution? When the economy is taking a turn for the worse, the lower-income people are some of the first to feel it. That’s why, in the Great Depression, the U.S. government established a minimum wage. In an attempt to provide at least some relief for the lower-income people, the minimum wage is the general amount that each worker should get hourly for the work that they do. Depending on the skills and experience required for
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The 2008 poverty line was $10,991 for singles, $14,053 for couples, and $17,163 for a family of three (“Minimum Wage”). In theory, a raise in minimum wage would help this issue. The logic is, if workers are getting paid more, they’ll spend more. Higher consumer rates will hopefully mean more profit for companies, and it is estimated that 100,000 jobs would be created with a modest raise in the minimum wage (Cooper & Hall). But, this theory doesn’t take into account a lot of aspects of the job market, and is an imperfect …show more content…
Minimum wage jobs generally require little skill or education, if any. The question is posed, then, should someone be able to completely support themselves, and a family, with such a job? The answer is no. Minimum wage jobs are meant to be “stepping stones” to higher level, higher paying jobs (“Raising the Min. Wage”). The poor economic status resulting from minimum wage jobs should work as a catalyst and a motivator for people to gain more skill and education in order to climb the ladder of success. The government shouldn’t encourage people be content with maintaining the lowest level of wage their whole lives, just because it’s enough to live off of. So, providing jobs with proportional pay that teach the “basic skills” needed to advance in the job market will lead to people obtaining “living wage” jobs (“Raising the Min.
The 2008 poverty line was $10,991 for singles, $14,053 for couples, and $17,163 for a family of three (“Minimum Wage”). In theory, a raise in minimum wage would help this issue. The logic is, if workers are getting paid more, they’ll spend more. Higher consumer rates will hopefully mean more profit for companies, and it is estimated that 100,000 jobs would be created with a modest raise in the minimum wage (Cooper & Hall). But, this theory doesn’t take into account a lot of aspects of the job market, and is an imperfect …show more content…
Minimum wage jobs generally require little skill or education, if any. The question is posed, then, should someone be able to completely support themselves, and a family, with such a job? The answer is no. Minimum wage jobs are meant to be “stepping stones” to higher level, higher paying jobs (“Raising the Min. Wage”). The poor economic status resulting from minimum wage jobs should work as a catalyst and a motivator for people to gain more skill and education in order to climb the ladder of success. The government shouldn’t encourage people be content with maintaining the lowest level of wage their whole lives, just because it’s enough to live off of. So, providing jobs with proportional pay that teach the “basic skills” needed to advance in the job market will lead to people obtaining “living wage” jobs (“Raising the Min.