Minimum Wage Should Be Raised For A Better Standard Of Living

Vamsi Sanagala Hannah Manshel Dec 15 2014 English 1 Minimum Wage Almost 3.3 out of 76 million workers in the US receive minimum wage (Source: BLS reports). Activists for raising the minimum wage claim that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 is the reason they are living in poverty, and that the wage must be raised for a better standard of living. Many people who take on minimum wage jobs are young and work in companies that don’t carry much prestige; however, they still take pride in their work and demand higher pay (BLS reports). On the other side of the issue, there are claims that raising the minimum wage will actually have more drawbacks than benefits such as hurting the economy (Opposing Viewpoints). The†¦show more content†¦These effects can be seen as a boost to the economy because those 28 million workers would make use of their extra money, and put it back into the ever flowing economy. This action by the workers would lead to an overall estimated 35 billion dollar increase (Cap Action). Raising the minimum wag e would also help lessen the disparity of income that often occurs. I think many people can agree that some jobs pay way too much, as opposed to other jobs. By raising the minimum wage just a little, the workers can feel more needed and potentially increase productivity (Cap Action). People also believe that by ensuring a fair wage distribution, affluent people would have less trouble relating to poorer folk, and vice versa. Raising the minimum wage would reduce unemployment, which is a problem some 4% of Americans today suffer from (Pew Research). This statement is backed up by the fact that previous states that raised minimum wage have generally seen an increase in offered jobs (Cap Action). Raising the minimum wage would also minimally affect other prices of things, which would not lead to problems in the overall scheme of things (Cap Action). It is stated that the price of a CD would be raised by just one cent to compensate for a minimum wage increase. An increase would also let 3.5 million workers who use food stamps to be able to purchase their own food, which would not only help them, but also help the