Essay On Federal Minimum Wage

Imagine working forty hours per week, every single week of the year, and not making enough money to provide an individual's family with essentials such as food, shelter, and transportation. This is what federal minimum wage workers have to deal with every year. The federal minimum wage is the lowest wage permitted by law. According to a report by the Pew Research Center, more than 1.5 million hourly workers in the United States earn the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour (DeSilver). A full-time worker making the federal minimum wage earns $15,080 per year, an annual income that sits below the federal poverty level of $16,020 for a family of two. While there are twenty-nine states that have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage, there are twenty-one states at or below the federal minimum wage. Although the federal minimum wage is supposedly to be the living wage, it should be increased because it can promote economic activity and spur job growth, it can reduce income inequality, and it is well below the living wage.
First, increasing the federal minimum wage can promote economic activity and spur job growth. A federal minimum wage hike can stimulate economic activity by putting money …show more content…
The Congressional Budget Office reports that an increase of the federal minimum wage to $10.10 would cumulatively boost incomes of people below the federal poverty line by $5 billion. It would immediately reduce the poverty rate among America's nonelderly population by 1.7 percent (Congressional Budget Office). Over time, the reduction would be 2.5 percent. That's 4.6 million people lifted out of poverty immediately, and 6.8 million people over time. A 10 percent increase in the federal minimum wage would reduce the number of people living in poverty by 2.4 percent