The Pros And Cons Of The Federal Minimum Wage

The Federal Minimum Wage is widely considered to be the backbone of American workers’ rights. Minimum wage was created and implemented to ensure that workers get paid fairly for the time that they work, and get paid enough to support themselves and their families. However, this, though once a reality, is no longer happening. Because of the inadequacy of the Federal Minimum Wage, and perhaps more importantly, the gross negligence of the Executive Branch of the United States government of said inadequacy, as was displayed by the Republican­controlled Congress blocking a bill in 2014 that would have raised the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 per hour, workers are suffering and struggling to avoid poverty and personal economic disaster. The federal

Simple math will lead to the conclusion that this wage, paid for a 40 hour work week, 52 weeks a year, will yield $1160 a month, and $15,080 a year before taxes. According to the Department of Numbers, the average rent in America is $934, meaning that the average full­time minimum wage worker in America has just over $200 left after paying rent each month, before taxes are factored in. Federal taxes for a minimum wage worker, neither claiming or being a dependent, are around $472 for the year 2016, according to the International Revenue Service. These numbers become even more daunting when the average entire cost of living in America, which includes healthcare, transportation, food, taxes, and other necessities, is factored in. In order to keep up with the average cost of living in America, the average minimum wage worker would have to work 64 hours a week just to meet the weekly demand of $593 for living, according to CareerTrends. Alternatively, a minimum wage worker could choose to go without basic necessities, sometimes food, and healthcare in order to make ends meet, though according to ObamaCare Facts, there is a penalty of around $58 per month for every month without health insurance the year 2016, as per the Affordable Care Act of 2010. Sadly, this act of abstaining from paying for factors of living is somewhat of a common occurence in America. After analyzing these facts, one can plainly see that the Federal Minimum

According to the Economic Policy Institute, raising the minimum wage to $12 an hour would boost the incomes of over 35 million Americans which would allow people to not have to live in poverty or rely on government assistance to make ends meet. More than 600 economists, including 7 nobel prize winners wrote a letter to President Obama endorsing an increase in the federal minimum wage, stating that evidence shows that an increase in minimum wage shows no negative effect on job growth, and in fact increases consumer spending and therefore would increase demand and job growth, which disputes the idea that an increase in the minimum wage will lead to higher unemployment and helps to further the argument that a minimum wage increase is not only necessary, but actually healthy for the economy. Furthermore, according to NPR, the 13 states who raised their state mandated minimum wage at the beginning of 2014 all added jobs to their economy at a faster rate than states that did not raise their state mandated minimum wage. This fact disputes the claim made by the Congressional Budget Office in its report in 2014 that stated that raising the minimum wage, even to $10.10 would cost the U.S. economy arond 500,000 jobs. Economic research conducted by the United States Department of Labor and the Center for Economic Policy Research shows that increases in minimum wage sharply reduces employee turnover