The issue of minimum wage has been heavily debated in recent years, with discourse over whether or not the current one is livable and if it should be raised to $15, over twice the amount it is now. Although an immediate national jump to this salary is highly unlikely, intervals at $9 and $10.10 have been discussed on the political scene. With more and more Americans turning to forms of welfare for financial support, the country is questioning whether or not there needs to be economic reform.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that workers must receive no less than $7.25 for a full hour of work as of 2009. Working full time at this salary would bring home around $15,080 a year, just a bit higher than the poverty line for a two income family. According to a survey conducted by NBC News, American families consider $58,000 a year necessary for a family of four.
Many different arguments have emerged over the years in regards to why minimum wage should (or shouldn’t) be raised. Supporters argue that anyone working 40+ hours a week deserves to live comfortably, especially since many workers contribute a lot to society. America would be a completely different place if it didn’t have people working in food service, cleaning service, delivery, childcare, ect. They also believe raising the minimum wage would hugely benefit the economy, and that higher salaries means more consumer spending and ultimately more money circulation.
NHS sophomores Kristin Oliger and Lauren Montague agree that the minimum wage should be raised to $10.10, because that’s a typical salary for a babysitter.
Advocates for the current minimum wage (or even a lower one) say that these workers don’t deserve $15 an hour for the work they do. They believe that most of these jobs were not designed to support entire families; that cashiers at McDonalds were supposed to be students or other people looking for work in addition to other responsibilities. Also, they argue that a raise would ultimately result in minimum wage workers just being laid off or denied benefits if their companies suddenly had to keep up with higher pay for their remaining employees.
These two clear sides have emerged in the 2016 Presidential Race, with most Democrats leaning towards a higher minimum wage and most Republicans voting to keep it the same (though the opinions are not unanimous on either side). The topic almost always accompanies discussions over the “1%” of Americans who hold most of the finances.
“They’re [minimum wage workers] anxious about the fact that they are working incredibly long hours, they’re worried about their kids and they’re seeing the income and wealth going to the top 1%,” candidate Bernie Sanders said during the December 2015 Democratic debate.
One interesting incident on the minimum wage news front occurred after a shopper took a picture of a Walmart donation box asking for canned food to assist their own employees. The box was put up by one of their workers who wanted to help out two of her coworkers who were out due to illness, because Walmart does not provide paid medical leave. This has led people to question not only the wages companies pay their workers, but also their general treatment, especially by large companies such as Walmart who tend to discourage unions.
“People deserve a living wage. I also think that we need to make health care accessible… this minimum wage has to be raised but what’s happened is they limit your hours so they don’t have to provide health insurance,” NHS teacher Cate Brainard said.
Although doubling the current minimum wage may sound outrageous to many, there are some individual places that have already made plans to bump it up. The highest minimum wage in the nation is $10.10 in Washington D.C., but several major cities such as Los Angeles and Seattle have vowed to increase their own to $15 by 2020.
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