Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Corona English 1B 04/11/13 I want to start off by telling you a little bit about Ms. Criswell she works full time, with no benefits, and she hasn’t had a raise in three years. After taxes, she brings home $1,030 a month – enough, if she’s careful, to meet her expenses, with little wiggle room. â€Å"What I feel,† she says, â€Å"is anxiety. I felt it just this morning. It’s constantly in the back of my mind: ‘Am I going to have enough to pay the bills? ‘† She grows what food she can and buys items that can be stretched out to multiple meals. To live with the concern of whether or not she will be able to keep her home and feed herself shouldn’t be an issue for anyone. They are programs to help starving children in foreign countries then maybe the government should stop and look at whats happening in America. We cant say Ms. Criswell is lazy and doesn’t want to work, so how else can she bring home more income if she is limited to what is available. If minimum wage was to be increased, this would allow people to bring home more income and there are concerns and I will address them in the following. According to minimum-wage. rg, a full time minimum wage worker in California working 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year, will earn $64. 00 per day, $320. 00 per week, and $16,640. 00 per year. The national poverty line for a family unit consisting of two people is $14,570 per year. This doesn’t give much room for emergencies or health complications or even extra money to put away in a savings account, most fami lies live paycheck to paycheck. With rising gas prices and rent, theres no doubt that a bigger pay check can substancially lower the risk of going bank rupt or putting the health and well being of your child in danger. Cost of living has risen since the last time minimum wage was raised and therefore calls for a raise in the near future. I agree on raising minimum wage for a few reasons. Big corporations are making an enormous amount of money, they should be able to compensate their employees at a decent rate. In California, the minimum wage is considered $8. 00 an hour but is not limited to paying a new employee under 20 a minimum wage of $4. 25 for the first 90 days, or paying a full-time high school or college students working part time to be paid $6. 80 an hour. This is completely legal and it is to the discretion of the employer to determine the final wage. With companies are making thousands of dollars you would think they would be able to compensate their employees at a higher wage. If companies could increase an employee’s salary, that means the employee can take home a bigger check which can turn out to be a good thing. Now more money is coming in, the more they can spend on items that will in return create more jobs to supply the increase of demanded items. Now, I know â€Å"more money means more spending† may seem like a bad thing Cost of living is an issue when the ideal living situation isn’t customized to every family More money coming into the house hold can mean money spent on items and in favor create more jobs to meet the demand. Those who oppose an increase to the minimum wage, however, argue that the effects on employment rates would be exactly the opposite of those supporters expect. A higher minimum wage, would be too heavy a burden on employers. We can see this being an issue with small business owners and those employers, in turn, would be unable to hire as many people. I understand that small business will have an issue hiring more people if the minimum wage is raised but on the other hand raising minimum wage will motivate people to go out and provide for themselves thus lowering unemployment rates. If minimum wage is applied inconsistently then it does seem unfair to a person living in a different state with a much lower minimum wage, but we also have to give account to the cost of living in that particular state. Rent, food, bills, etc. , maybe be higher or depending on what state the person resides