Barbara Ehrenreich’s Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America is a critically acclaimed investigative biography of a reporter going undercover to see how individuals manage to live on minimum wage across America. More specifically, Barbara was curious about how were “the roughly four million women about to be booted into the labor market by welfare reform going to make it on $6 or $7 an hour” (1)? Ehrenreich developed a plan and some rules for her undercover research for finding jobs, housing, and living expenses. The research for this book covered a span of three states, Florida, Maine, and Minnesota, between spring of 1998 and summer of 2000.
In the book Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America, journalist Barbara Ehrenreich goes undercover into the world of minimum wage employees to research how difficult it is to live off of their salary. She splits up the book into three sections where she tackles these jobs in diverse areas to be able to compare her data. In each section Ehrenreich plows through several jobs, sometimes struggling to afford housing and food. She takes these first-hand experiences and compiles them into a book that gives readers an insight to the world of minimum wage workers. Ehrenreich begins her journey by taking time to prepare for the hardships she may face along the way.
In her essay “Serving in Florida” Barbara Ehrenreich states that the minimum wage is not enough to support a person. The evidence that she uses is very convincing for me she mentions various examples of how hard she had to work, in order to afford for her rent. Ehrenreich mentions that she had to work two jobs one as a waitress and the other one as housekeeping in the essay she describes how hard it was to run from one job and not being regarded with anything. I believe that the author wants to make the audience to analyze and make conscious about the situation and the world where we lived
A rhetorical analysis of: “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu”, an editorial published in February, 2014 by The Boston Globe, reveals the author’s use of classic rhetorical appeals to be heavily supported with facts, including focused logos arguments. “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu” is a Boston Globe editorial published in February 2014 by author/editor Kathleen Kingsbury. Kingsbury is a Pulitzer prize winning author and is currently the deputy managing editor (The Boston Globe). “For many restaurant workers, fair conditions not on menu” aims to inform the reader of the hardships that minimum wage restaurant workers in the United States have to face and steps that could be taken to solve these issues. The article focuses in on the wage gap,
Which leads to the rebuttal of the argumentative piece, “Curiously, most members of Congress who take a hard line on immigration also strongly oppose increasing the minimum wage, claiming it will hurt businesses and reduce jobs” (Dukakis & Mitchell, 2006). Nonetheless the authors have an exception to this rebuttal, that is if “We want to reduce illegal immigration, it makes sense to reduce the abundance of extremely low-paying jobs that fuels it. If we raise the minimum wage, it’s possible some low- end jobs may be lost; but more Americans would also be willing to work in such jobs, thereby denying them to people who aren’t supposed to be here in the first place” Assuming that most american citizens are going to work, they would take up all the jobs provided out there, assuming that the minimum wage went up and they would be payed better (Dukakis & Mitchell,
The 15 dollar minimum wage is a commonly debated topic in American politics and is quite controversial because of its unknown outcome if implemented. Many believe raising the minimum wage would cause more harm than good. Those opposing the $15 minimum wage must attempt to convince upper, middle, and lower class Americans through the use of commonplaces, inductive logic, and a deliberate argument that raising the minimum wage would cause massive job loss, increased dropout rates and encourage companies to outsource production. Making an efficient rhetorical strategy to convince the target audience against the $15 dollar minimum wage will take different strategies depending on which audience group is being addressed. Through past attempts, the
Just imagine ... someone who has been proficient in the field of computer science since his childhood, but couldn’t afford to go to college. Just imagine if, since he couldn’t afford college, he couldn’t get a good paying job and is now succumbed to the struggles of surviving on minimum wage. Just imagine the grief you would have felt in this situation, knowing that you’ve let down not only your family but also yourself. Now, while this problem, of minimum wage, may not be applicable to many of you, it is a common issue for many Americans today and is just one of the many issues, such as gay marriage, abortion, and national security, that the Republican party is fighting to solve.
A minimum wage increase from “$7.25 to $10.10 would result in a loss of 500,000 jobs”. ("The Effects of Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income”) This claim is better because it shows how raising the minimum wage will decrease job growth instead of increasing it. But, the minimum wage should be increased because increasing will also increase economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum
Should Federal Minimum Wage be $15 an hour? The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 states that workers will be given a livable wage. By definition, a living wage is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs. In the words of congress, it is “the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being.”
Minimum Wage and Fifteen Dollars Minimum wage is a quite interesting topic on how it should be raised but not raised to much to where it’s to the point where someone flipping burgers gets paid more than someone that defends the person flipping burgers. Now it days there's more people working two minimum wage jobs to keep above the poverty line and keep a low standard of living. The idea of changing minimum wage to 8-9 dollars an hour is reasonable but when individuals ‘Fight for $15’ should be the fight for $8-9 because: creates unemployment, encourages teens to drop out, and hurts the poor. Creates Unemployment When the minimum wage reaches a peak of $15 it would raise the demand for jobs, creating less availability for jobs.
I must have been about 10 or 11, playing a pickup game of basketball with my dad in our driveway in the midst of the scorching July heat. Recently I had seen or heard an ad discussing minimum wage. Out of boredom and curiosity I asked my dad at a break in play about the core concepts behind this new idea I had stumbled upon. With patience my dad explained to me the concept. After a few more questions and prods I picked up the ball and asked “So if there’s a minimum wage, what’s maximum wage?”
We find no evidence that minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 affected overall state poverty rates. ”(Leigh, A. (2007) Proposals to increase the minimum wage are politically popular because they are widely seen as an effective way to help the working poor. In spite of it, state and federal minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on reducing the poverty rates. “Minimum wage increases have thus far provided little more than symbolic support to the working poor.”
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
Ethical Policy Making and Pay Dispersion in America If something is to be discussed as being ethical or no, then it must be considered not only if something is right or wrong, but why it is determined so. (Bishop 2013) Simplistically speaking, legal policies that instate a wage minimum for workers are a contributor to unemployment, and if the wage is set too high, then there are more workers in the market than there is ability to pay them for their labor. (Mankiw 2015)
Preventing Minimum Wage Speech Overview: General Goal: To persuade - to create, change or reinforce attitudes, values, beliefs and/or behaviors. Specific Goal: By the end of this speech my audience will believe that minimum wage in America should be raised all around the nation. Introduction: (This is where you start talking) Attention Grabber: How many of us have worked a job that pays $7.25 - $7.50 a hour?
