Minimum Wage Thesis

When a tree falls in the forest, people wonder if it makes a noise because no one is there to hear it. When a low waged worker who can’t pay his or her bills at the end of the month is crying out of desperation for a change to happen, are they heard? Since 2009 minimum wage workers have been making only $7.25 an hour in the United States (Minimum). Young and old workers everywhere are trying to make it by on this little amount to stay afloat at a living standard cost that keeps rising every year. These workers comprise 59 percent of the U.S. workforce that work hourly waged jobs (Minimum). The Law of Demand states that if the price of a product increases the demand for that product decreases. Prices on goods and services have inflated to higher

In 1894, New Zealand was in fact the first country to set the minimum wage law in motion (Minimum Wage). Their government realized businesses were paying employees so low that it is was almost as if the workers were slaves, so a change had to be made. It took America almost half a century to realize New Zealand was moving in the right direction. To be exact, 1938 was the year the United States “federal government enacted the Fair Labor Standards Act, fixing the minimum wage of workers employed in interstate commerce at $.25

Every time a new minimum wage law is established it correlates with the cost of living a that time period. When inflations takes ahold of prices on goods and services it becomes a lot more difficult for families with children to live a stable lifestyle. Also, every year a new batch of graduated high school seniors embark on their journey to college. Those students will soon realize that the tuition cost will be too much for them to bare, so they will either have to change their major to a job that will help pay off college loans quicker or drop out. This all can be prevented if the United States government steps into the shoes of minimum wage workers and acknowledges the hardships these workers face. Rabbi Michael Lerner once said, “you never know what is possible in the political and economic world until you struggle for what is desirable” (A). So when forgotten minimum wage workers cry out, will you be