Pros And Cons Of Changing The Minimum Wage

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Changing the Minimum Wage?
Imagine this...a girl who works a full-time job as a waitress. She earns minimum wage, $7.25, and is able to keep all her personal tips. However, some days she won’t receive any handouts. With difficult working standards, she barely makes enough to sustain herself. If there was no aid from her parents, then it would have been virtually impossible for her to survive. People suffer with this issue everyday; without wage raised or impressive tips, what are employees supposed to do? It is for this circumstance, I feel that the minimum wage should be raised.
The United States’ minimum wage has changed multiple times. In 1938, the minimum wage was first passed, in the Fair Labor Standards Act, by President Roosevelt. It was set to a mere $0.25. Over the years, it has changed at least 22 times. With this act in place, as well as multiple poverty prevention plans, the poverty numbers should be close to zero. In an article that explains each county’s minimum earnings, it stated that “families working in low-wage jobs make insufficient income to live locally given the local cost of living” (“Living Wage Calculator”). Waukesha County’s average minimum wage …show more content…

They conclude that increasing minimum wage to $15.00 would only kill the amount of jobs available. This is a basic application of supply and demand. The higher the cost of something, the less that it will likely be bought. If wages are doubled, then companies might fire some employees and/or regulate the amount of hours someone works. However, this argument has been proved wrong. One article that researches job trends from 1938 to 2016 states, “Of the nearly two dozen federal minimum-wage hikes since 1938, total year-over-year employment actually increased 68% of the time” ( “Hanauer”). As our country has progressed, it has shown to decrease in the amount of unemployed citizens. Firms and workers need each other to be