The Patriot Times
Randall Rinehart
Jim Clyburn was once quoted to say, “The bottom line is that five million low-income Americans working full time for minimum wage, deserve a raise.” This is true, because people with low incomes really do deserve to have higher wages. Many people who work for minimum wage are living paycheck to paycheck, and can barely buy anything else.
Minimum wage is incredibly and unacceptably low currently. The 77.2 million people who work for minimum wage barely have enough money to support themselves. I believe that minimum wage should be raised, because many people work hard, but only make the minimum wage, which isn’t nearly enough. If the minimum wage is raised, then citizens – such as gaming dealers, lifeguards, cashiers, models, manicurists, and pedicurists – would have more money, so they wouldn’t be living from paycheck to paycheck. However, if the minimum wage is kept the same, or lowered, then everyone who currently makes minimum wage wouldn’t even be able to live from paycheck to paycheck!
My uncle used to be a cashier at Walmart. He made minimum wage, and barely had enough money to support himself. After he had children, he couldn’t support his family, and lost his car and his house. He lived on the streets for 5 months, until he could find a job that payed more than minimum wage. If the minimum wage is increased, then people like my uncle would be able to support their families without having to find a more difficult job than the one they currently have.
I agree strongly with Jim Clyburn, that citizens working for minimum wage deserve a raise. Raising the minimum wage would mean helping millions of people to live a better life. It is unacceptably inconsiderate to leave the minimum wage low, as people right now live from paycheck to paycheck.
Breanna Bolle
Kevin Hassett, Economist at the American Enterprise Institute, once declared, “Many people who have little experience get their start at places like fast food restaurants. But if wages are
higher, employers are less likely to take a chance on people with less experience because it's a big investment.” It is often discussed and debated on whether minimum wages should be raised, or stay steady, as today’s. Raising the minimum wage would affect American citizens and their families as well as result in job loss, and inefficient workers.
There's no question that living on the current minimum wage is hard – especially as prices keep increasing. But while minimum-wage proponents' hearts may be in the right place, their heads are not. Wage controls backfire. They reduce job opportunities for those employees who need them most, exacerbating wage stagnation, rather than alleviating it. What they misunderstand, is that the minimum wage is a training wage that gives young and low-skilled employees the skills necessary to quickly earn far more than the minimum wage. In addition, the evidence suggests that the vast majority of them do so. Two-thirds of minimum wage employees earn a raise within their first year on the job, according to a study by economists at Miami and Florida State University. Raising the minimum wage reduces these valuable training opportunities.
On the occasion that wages may be raised, workers for minimum wage are earning around the same value of salary workers. As for this, those that work for salaries may want to have a minimum wage job. With this happening, any American citizen will feel the right to avoid education that leads to high paying careers, and take the easy way out.
If America’s wages were to be raised, there would be unfit employees, as well as effects on America’s citizens and families. Raising wages may seem beneficial for those relying on it with their life; however, others feel this could help in destroying America’s economy. With what Kevin Hassett has previously stated, one can conclude that minimum wage is for those working their way up to earn a high salary, not those who rely on it to make a living.
