Elizabeth Wood

23 February 2015

Minimum Wage: Raise the Pay

Countless Americans work hard every day to pay for the things they need, have, and want. Much of this work force is starting or stuck in an entry level job, and many find it difficult to continue out of this job bracket. Regardless of age—and more importantly, life situation—these workers all have an identical problem: minimum wage. While this may sound unimportant, or perhaps even deserved by the workers, there are actually many problems present with the current federal minimum wage. Typically, one would think that the current state of the minimum wage is reasonable, with the assumption that most minimum wage workers are high school or college students, new to the work force, looking to earn a few bucks aside from what their parents allot them. However, this wage is harming more than just well to-do teenagers. Employers could make an immense difference in the lives of thousands with a slight increase in pay for their employees. 

Currently, the federal minimum hourly wage is a mere $7.25 (Perez), and a pitiful $2.13 for workers who receive tips ("What Is the Minimum Wage for Workers Who Receive Tips?"). While there are many states working to boost the minimum wage, the highest standing minimum hourly wage is $10.50 in the District of Columbia ("What’s the Minimum Wage in Your State?").  According to an article by Dustin Hawkins, the opposition for raising the minimum wage tends to arise from those concerned for the well being of businesses, the availability in the work force, and the effects of a higher minimum wage on other costs (Hawkins). In his article, Hawkins addresses that an increased minimum wage would cause employers to be more selective with their hiring decisions, since “employers would rather pay one excellent employee $16/hr with benefits rather than pay two inexperienced entry-level workers $9 with benefits,” which would be bad news for anyone searching for an entry level job (Hawkins). Another concern was that the increase of cost to pay for employees would negatively affect the businesses paying to afford them. However, according to an article by Dave Gilson, since 1990 the cost of living has increased 67%, whereas the value of minimum wage has only increased 21%. This means that working full time at minimum wage, a worker could earn about $15,000 year, but in order for a single worker to have enough income for economic security, they would have to earn $30,000 annually (Gilson). Without an increase in pay, workers could never live comfortably—it would be impossible when only earning half of what they need to survive without being impoverished. 

While this lack of sufficient pay is causing workers to suffer, the money that the workers aren’t seeing is actually going to the top 1%, who in 2007, earned 160% more than the average American household (Gilson).  While every business owner is not in the “1%” category, the people signing the paychecks could likely spare more money than they may have thought. Despite Hawkins’ concerns, increasing minimum wage would not hurt businesses, and according to the United States Department of Labor, “Academic research has shown that higher wages sharply reduce employee turnover which can reduce employment and training costs” ("Minimum Wage Mythbusters"). While it may only be a start to changing the lives of all Americans, raising the minimum wage to at least $10.90/hr could make a huge change in the lives of these workers. The reason the proposed raise to the Federal Minimum wage is so low is that many articles state that raising the minimum wage would cause employers to reduce the amount of employees they need to pay in order to compensate for the increase of cost (Gillikin). In fact, it’s surpisingly difficult to find too many popular articles that attest to raising the minimum wage as being generously conducive to the American population. There are articles stating that it would harm teens and minorities because of the reduced job availability, that low skill or entry level workers would be out-competed for a job (Gillikin), and that about 49% of minimum wage workers are 24 years old and under (Wilson), until it comes to the point where it is difficult to justify raising it. It would only help a few people and cut out the rest of them, which would just cause more problems than it would fix. But here’s the thing: after the minimum wage is raised, if employers don’t fire off half of their employees for the sake of maintaining profits, there could actually be some serious benefits. 

Here’s the truth: 88% of people who might benefit from an increased minimum wage are 20 and older, and 55% percent of that 88% are women ("Minimum Wage Mythbusters"). Maybe some of these article writers were never in want of money growing up, but looking at statistics for college students, in October 2013, “the labor force participation rate…for full-time students [was] 43.4 percent [and]… for part-time students 82.1 percent” ("College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2013 High School Graduates"). That means that 82.1% of part time students were also working, more than likely to be able to pay for their classes, their food, their housing, their fuel, their insurance, their appliances, or any combination of. Even full time students are working to pay for these things. College is expensive. Even with federal aid, even with student loans, it takes years, sometimes even decades, for these students to pay off their college debt. That’s not an easy task. Everyone jokes about the “starving student,” but truly, many of these students will actually be going hungry tonight, or maybe this week, because they work a minimum wage job when they can and have to spend all of their earnings on school or any other expense that comes with being a human being. If the minimum wage were higher, maybe less people would drop out of college in fear of debt. Maybe more people would attend college because they weren’t afraid of not being able to provide for themselves immediately out of high school. If more people were more educated, they wouldn’t have to worry about working minimum wage jobs, opening up the job market for others that need entry-level work.

Additionally, if employers took the leap to raise their own minimum wage, regardless of federal minimum wage, the economy could potentially see a visible positive difference. With minimum wage as low as it is, the amount one may receive from welfare is about 4$ a week less than one may receive from actually working at minimum wage (Gillikin). Maybe others think differently, but if one could be paid roughly the same to either work or sit around and read a book, they’d probably much rather read a book. There is almost no incentive for a minimum wage worker to bother doing probably grueling labor over living a relaxed life. If one were to look at numbers of people below poverty line, according to the United States Census Bureau, 14.5% of Americans rest in that category—that’s 45.3 million people. It is baffling that none of these articles mention that raising the minimum wage would give these people incentive to work—rather than take from the government—which would in turn lower the amount of government spending. Also, if these families were paid decently, they could begin to pay taxes, which would potentially lower the massive deficit that currently sits on our White House. Moreover, when people make more money, they spend more money. If people earned more, they could pay for more things, further stimulating the economy and compensating for the raise in pay that Americans could potentially see. 

Raising the minimum wage is a circle that has yet to be fully considered, but in the end, there are few that would not benefit. If businesses raised what they paid their workers, if the governments recognized that $7.25/hr is not enough to keep a family alive, healthy, and functioning, and if article writers addressed how the increased pay would provide more good than bad to our country, then maybe the people in power would recognize that it really is time to make a change. However, awareness is the largest factor: while raising the minimum wage has become a growing concern, there are still those who feel it won’t help those who really need it. Perhaps those who express concern are the ones that would be paying for the raise in pay. In that case, maybe the Americans who work hours on end for measly cash to barely scrape by should get a taste of the salary of those who don’t pay enough. They think employees can live like that, so maybe they should try it. However, since that’s not particularly likely, the best that can be done is continue to raise awareness, share your own story through sites such as raisetheminimumwage.com, and press business owners to make the change and pay what American’s really need. 

"College Enrollment and Work Activity of 2013 High School Graduates." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. United States Department of Labor, 22 Apr. 2014. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

Gillikin, Jason. "Problems With Minimum Wage." Small Business. Chron, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Gilson, Dave. "Overworked America: 12 Charts That Will Make Your Blood Boil." Mother Jones. N.p., July 2011. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

Hawkins, Dustin. "Why Conservatives Oppose Raising the Minimum Wage." US Conservatives. Conservative Politics: Economy and Taxes, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

"Minimum Wage Mythbusters." United States Department of Labor. Secretary of Labor, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

Perez, Thomas E. "Wages." U.S. Department of Labor. Secretary of Labor, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

"United States Census Bureau." About Poverty. N.p., n.d. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.

"What’s the Minimum Wage in Your State?" Raise the Minimum Wage. National Employment Law Project, n.d. Web. 22 Feb. 2015.

"What Is the Minimum Wage for Workers Who Receive Tips?" United States Department of Labor. Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, n.d. Web. 19 Feb. 2015.

Wilson, Mark. "The Negative Effects of Minimum Wage Laws." Downsizing the Federal Government. N.p., Sept. 2012. Web. 23 Feb. 2015.