Minimum Wage Argument

Words: 1649
Pages: 7

The argument of minimum wage has been around for a long time and is still a problem in society today. Some people find minimum wage to be enough to live on while others do not. Some struggle trying to make ends meet on minimum wage, while others do not. That is why it is such a common problem in today's society as a whole. Some believe that society needs to change the minimum wage while others believe it is fine just the way it is. An author named Mike Kilen tells about how people are trying to make it by while living on minimum wage. Kilen told of a story of a woman named Heather Costello, “ Heather Costello of Sioux City works for $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage. For 40 hours a week, she presses meats into Lunchables on an assembly …show more content…
Her name is Barbara Ehrenreich, she has written and published many articles in several of America’s top magazines and newspapers, along with authoring dozens of books. The piece she did over minimum wage was published in the New York Times and is called “Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By In America” it was published in 2001. Ehrenreich went to Florida to work at minimum wage jobs to help support her view that the minimum wage was not enough for people to live on. Ehrenreich worked several different jobs, including house cleaning, retail sales and waitressing so that she could have the experience of someone living on minimum …show more content…
An article by Sencer working for KQED learning by PBS takes a look at both sides of the story in “Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?” The article addresses both sides of the minimum wage story. Some people do not think about both sides when it comes to the issue of minimum wage. Sencer writes, “Those on the other side of this debate believe that raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses, which would not be able to pay their employees. Businesses might even have to close, and employees would lose their jobs. There would be fewer job opportunities because businesses would be doing as much hiring...”(Sencer 1). Sencer points out that while many want to change the minimum wage there will be consequences when changing it. Sencer also wrote, “So, while employees who kept their jobs would be making more money, unemployment would rise. Raising minimum wage could also cause inflation, since business owners would have to make up for increased labor costs by raising prices. Therefore, the cost of living would increase, and the value of the new minimum wage would decrease” (Sencer