At least 15 million workers in the US make less than $10 an hour according to this article on CNN. This is not at all hard for me to believe because most people around here do make less than $10 an hour. I think it's sad that a 5 lb package of ground beef (not ground chuck, ground beef) costs nearly $19 on sale. So even if you made $10 and hour it would take you 2 hours of work to buy enough meat to feed a family of four three to four meals. Do you think that minimum wage should be raised?
Absolutely! Now I'm not saying that we should all receive an equal wage at all - there would be nothing to aspire to then, but the minimum wage should rise in accordance with the increase in the cost of living.
Glad to see someone agrees Missbishi! I am with you, we don't all need to earn the same amount but you really ought to be able to feed your family. Minimum wage hasn't gone up in over five years, but yet the cost of everything else has risen dramatically.
Yeah I think so as well, although to be fair a lot of people who work minimum wage are teenagers/college students, servers or people who earn a living through tips. I'm not saying the min wage shouldn't be raised, but the statistics don't always tell a true story
Ideally the minimum wage would shift yearly according to inflation. That however is impractical to do since it would cause a huge mess each and every year from the employers perspective. But if the minimum wage hasn't gone up in 5 years, taking into account the inflation there has been during that time, yes it definitely sounds like a small increase would be in order.
Raising the minimum wage would set off a chain reaction which would nullify the raise. If the minimum wage was raised to say $15, all employers would also raise the cost of services, goods, products, etc in order for them to make the same profits they made before the raise. Now those who'd lose out are the ones who earn more than $15. They too would demand that their wages be raised. Should that happen that means the cost of everything would go also go up a second time.
Such a big raise would definitely have an effect on inflation. But I don't think anyone with a functioning brain is suggesting a 50% rise. Something modest such as $0.5 wouldn't put any pressure on manufacturers. Minimum wage HAS to keep up with inflation (at least to a certain extent) because if it doesn't then eventually having a full time job isn't enough for a normal life.
Most definately, the minimum wage does need to be raised, it is ot fair that the most hard working are the ones who get paid the least, it should be raised to encourge them to work harder to give us more hope in life.
A thriving economy depends on people having disposable income to spend. Without this, businesses soon start to go under through lack of custom. Failed businesses equal job losses. This causes competition in the jobs market which leads right back to people having no disposable income. It's a vicious circle.
Some fast food workers here in the US are demanding a starting minimum wage of $15-20 bucks an hour. The best way overall to increase wages is to have a more business-friendly environment where there are an abundance of jobs and employers are competing for workers' services. I am all for people making as much money as they can, and as a business owner, I believe you generally get what you pay for all around. Although I am in theory against a government-mandated minimum, a minimum wage tied to an inflation index sounds like a good real-world idea. But you cannot expect to make a whole lot of money working fast food, unless you are willing and able to work your way up or start your own restaurants. If you choose to continue working at the lowest levels of the lowest paying industries, you will always limit yourself. This should be more a matter left up to states. You cannot expect businesses in places like Louisiana or Arkansas where the cost of living is very low to be forced to pay the same that people are paid in California, Hawaii, and New York where the cost of living is sky high.
