According to the Employment Policies Institute (EPI), no evidence displaying that a higher minimum wage would reduce poverty. In fact, economists have found that many people living in poverty would not benefit from higher wages due to fact that many do not work, many workers earning minimum wage would do not live in poverty, and raising minimum wage would reduce the demand for employees with little to no experience (“Can”). It is revealed that 54.7 percent of “poor, less educated individuals between 16 and 64 do not work” (“Can”). It is concluded that an increase in minimum wage would not be the answer to the high poverty rate, however the Earned Income Tax Credit would decrease poverty by one percent for every one percent that the EITC is increased (“Can”). Also, this alternative would encourage more individuals to become employed because the credit is only offered to those with earned income (“Can”). Furthermore, EPI’s analysis of three different minimum wage increase proposals, the “Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2012”, the “Rebuild America Act”, and the “Catching Up to 1968 Act of 2012”, found that the poverty-stricken families …show more content…
From the analysis it is found that “the average family income of a beneficiary of a wage hike to $9.80 is $50,662”, which contradicts that claim that the average family income is $15,080 provided by supporters of the wage increase (“The”). Therefore, the increase in wages would not be helping the family in poverty that it was meant for, but rather a family that is already living on a manageable