An estimated 47 million Americans are living in poverty (Reiff). The low minimum wage is the main reason attributed to poverty experienced by Americans. The District of Columbia together with other twenty US states have made a decision to raise their minimum wages to over $7.25 of the federal state. At the same time, the US Congress is taking into consideration the Fair Minimum Wage Act (Reiff). The aim of the Act is to sequentially increase the minimum wage to the preferred $10.10 in a gradual process involving to be implemented in three steps. Eventually, the minimum will be indexed according to the cost of living.
US President, Barrack Obama has even made suggestion for the Congress to consider passing the Act that will raise the national minimum wage from the current $7.25 to $10.10 in an hour. Despite the call by the President, the Congress side made up of the Republicans is still objecting the proposal (Cabrelli). Similarly, several the proposal has been adopted by several cities, governors, mayors and businesses who have heeded to the need to raise the minimum wage for their employees and residents. While supporting, I propose for the raising the minimum wage because it will help in growing the US economy for everyone, lift the families out of poverty, it will be beneficial to increase the income for families, and it will help in protecting the workers from being abused.
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"Minimum Wage Should Be Raised".
The minimum wage should be increased because it will help in growing the US economy for everyone since it will increase consumer spending. The US economy has suffered a number of setbacks and therefore there is need to get it back in track and one of the mechanism to employ is raising the minimum wage (Cabrelli). Consumers have the spending power on their hands. Regular citizens but not the few who are wealthy contribute more to the economy in terms of spending while the rich tend to keep on hoarding their wealth. Employers should consider that the increase in productivity of their employer should reflect on their real wage.
The minimum wage should be increased because it will be beneficial to increase the income for families. Increasing the minimum wage will help in increasing the incomes of more than 28 million Americans. In particular, women will benefit from the strategy since they trend to work for less wages as compared to men (Neumark). In essence, the proposal to raise the minimum wage will ensure families are happy since there will be enough capital to spend. In addition, when the family income is more, some individuals may opt to retire, have children or choose to pursue education which will enable those without jobs to join the workforce (Neumark). In addition, working families will have enough time to engage in other community activities such as politics.
The minimum wage should be increased because it will help in protecting the workers from being abused. An increased minimum wage will also aid to overcome the working conditions characterized by exploitation by many employers, and reduce abusiveness in workplaces by employers who are taking advantage of the present low minimum wage (Cabrelli). Most of the oppressive employers commonly make use of the undocumented labor that in turn undermines the working poor in America.
In a nutshell, the paper has proposed that the minimum wage should be increased because it will help in growing the US economy for everyone, lift the families out of poverty, it will be beneficial to increase the income for families, and it will help in protecting the workers from being abused. Justice should be done for the working Americans and ensure wealth is fairly distributed across the economy.
- Cabrelli, David. Employment Law in Context: Text and Materials. Oxford University Press, 2014. Print
- Neumark, David. Minimum wages. MIT Press, 2008. Print
- Reiff, Mark. Exploitation and Economic Justice in the Liberal Capitalist State. Oxford University Press, 2013. Print
