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Working 8-hour shifts and juggling multiple jobs just to make ends meet needs to become a thing of the past. Raising the minimum wage would be the first step toward greater equality and revitalizing our economy.

The federal minimum wage in the United States is currently $7.25. An hourly wage of $7.25 is barely sufficient enough to cover the cost of basic living for even one person, let alone a family of four. If the minimum wage were raised to an amount where a family might be able to sustain themselves, then less tax dollars would get put into government assistance programs and could potentially be put to other good uses.

The current minimum wage is lower than any reasonable standard. The minimum wage has yet to increase, according to our cost of living, and has consistently fallen behind inflation. According to stateofworkingamerica.org, the minimum wage in real terms is actually significantly lower than it was in the 1960s.

Instructor Sharok Boman Bastani also believes it would be beneficial to raise the minimum wage.

“Personally, I support raising the minimum wage periodically,” said Bastani. “To keep up with inflation in order to prevent the erosion of the living standard of the low wage workforce.”

According to timeforaraise.org, if the government raised the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to just $8.50, it would inject $9.5 billion extra spending power into the economy. If the minimum wage were raised to $10 an hour, which is what it should be in direct relation to the cost of living, this would inject $60 billion into the economy over two years.

A currency injection of this size would benefit small companies most, since they were hit hardest during the recession. If small companies had more money to spend, more workers would be hired, more money would be dispersed, more spending would occur and it would all flow within this economic circle of wealth distribution.

According to timeforaraise.org it is not the case that this is only affecting young, summer or part-time workers. Nearly two thirds of all workers being paid at or below the federal minimum wage are women. Hispanics and African-American minorities make up 34 percent of all minimum wage workers. Over half of all minimum wage earners are over the age of 25, thirty percent of those workers are over the age of 34, and twenty percent are over the age of 44.

This is a common issue being shared by all ages, ethnicities and genders and should be dealt with accordingly. It is time that the lower working class be given a break. Furthermore, The lower working class would not be the only beneficiaries because the change would bring economic prosperity to the country as a whole and that would benefit everyone in many ways.

 

Sources:

http://www.timeforaraise.org/benefits-of-raising-the-minimum-wage/

http://stateofworkingamerica.org/chart/swa-wages-figure-4-ae-real-minimum-wage/

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