Minimum Wage Debate

Minimum Wage

“15 dollars! 15 dollars! Living wage!” The signs read as the American protesters march through the main streets of America. Protesters in two hundred and seventy cities march to “fight for 15” to show their displeased wages, some as low as Many folks across are voicing that current minimum wage jobs do not pay a decent wage to live in a small apartment and have food on the table. Many with families have had to take two or three jobs to provide for their children. The debate over minimum wage has flared up in recent years as more and more folks take to social media to stand on their soap boxes and show how unhappy their lives are. With the federal minimum wage at $7.25 in 2016, many states have taken it upon themselves to help

initiated in January 2016, its second phase to raise one million of their associate’s wages to ten dollars an hour. Many union leaders believe it is nothing more than a show. "It's easier to find a unicorn than a Walmart worker who has gotten a meaningful raise, or hasn't had their hours cut," United Food & Commercial Workers Union spokeswoman Jessica Levin said via email” (Wattle, 2016). Walmart’s “investment” in its associates salaries did come at a price. 10,000 employees were laid off or transferred to other stores when the company decide to close over 150 stores of its stores. Many long term employees also lost their benefit of holiday pay and an extra dollar “Sunday Premium” pay. Walmart see the move as necessary and right for its employees. “We are committed to investing in our associates and to continuing to simplify our business. When we do so, there is no limit to what our associates can accomplish,” said Judith McKenna, chief operating officer for Walmart U.S (Walmart Inc., 2016). Walmart is not alone in investing in their employees’ wages. Rival, Target, along with many other retailers are also raising the bottom wage for entry level employees. To many employees, this is not enough. Fifteen dollars is a standard for the nation’s lower class. Not all companies can afford to compensate their fellow employees. One small company in California is moving to Texas ahead of the 2022 fifteen dollar minimum wage mandate. “This is the last thing I want to do,

I believe “Millennials” are what they dubbed. Whether it was social injustice or tyranny of the government, many in this generation have developed ways to get their message across, social media being one of them. The Amount of important issues coming from feminist, to racial inequality, to the gender pay gap, may all be issues everyone must face at some point, but much of the rhetoric coming from these “causes” is just noise. Many believe if they yell loud enough, people will listen and change. That may work at times, but making yourselves the victim because a job YOU chose voluntarily does not pay you enough is not suffice to rally the nation to change. I get it, the world is an unfair place, a dog eat dog world, but that’s why you work hard and earn your place. Whether becoming that doctor, or becoming a humble teacher, you earn your way up. Yes, becoming a Burger King cook or a Walmart stockman is a job, but it is meant as a stepping stone for a future career, not a place to make your home. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistic, low paying jobs are projected to grow ten percent over the next decade. Along with higher tuition fees at local colleges, the wage gap among the lower class will widen and divert folks to find non skilled jobs. There must be government programs that help those low wage employees and their company create a high