You are trapped in a wild cave in the mountains of Afghanistan behind enemy lines, avoiding hostile attacks, just trying to survive another day. All in the service of your country. You’re probably exhausted, a little afraid, and have risked almost everything. Now, let’s switch to another visualization. You are working in the back of a chain-restaurant, putting together a sandwich, making sure you add the extra mayonnaise stated in the order. You feel under compensated, and ask your boss to raise your wage to $15 dollars an hour. Sounds reasonable, until you realize that with that raise you will end up making about a dollar more an hour then the brave soldier in the first scenario. A battle here at home, rather than in the hills of Afghanistan …show more content…
According to the Pew Research Center, the restaurant industry is the largest employer of minimum wage labor, and nearly half of those workers are between sixteen and twenty-four years old. The minimum wage has slowly increased throughout the years, in a pretty steady growth pattern. This growth has led us to seven dollars and twenty-five cents. A few years ago, a new movement began, labeled the Fight For Fifteen, demanded that the federal minimum wage be moved to 15 dollars an hour. The bold movement gained national media attention, and has been raising the question, should we drastically increase the federal minimum wage in the United States? Many of the people who support the wage hope to make the change for several major benefits. A Post-Crescent Media article reported that families earning more than $7.25 but below $10.10 are barely above the poverty line, and could be lifted up as well. It also reported that there are 17 million workers who earn less than the suggested increase who would directly benefit from an increase to $10.10. Now a two to three dollar increase would surely be a much more universally accepted compromise, rather than the fifteen dollars an hour deal, but could still have lasting impacts on the job