Minimum Wage Persuasive Essay

Words: 507
Pages: 3

While both discussing the hardships associated with sustaining oneself on minimum wage, both Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, and Minimum Wage, by Morgan Spurlock, display a variety of similar and different personal troubles and societal issues. In addition to both dealing with the topic of minimum wage, both Spurlock and Ehrenreich begin to live off of minimum wage for an experiment. Both were slightly fascinated with the idea of minimum wage. Only then does it present this dilemma, both could very easily drop out of the experiment and go back to their normal lives. Furthermore, both struggle with the societal issue of a lack of healthcare. Spurlock struggled to make ends meet when his fiancee contracted a urinary tract infection …show more content…
In addition to struggling to find gas money, Ehrenreich moves multiple times throughout her experiment, whereas Spurlock stays in one place. As a result of this move, Ehrenreich comes to the conclusion that living on minimum wage often causes one to travel to find jobs. Although both present a variety of personal troubles and societal issues associated with living on minimum wage, the way in which they deal with these issues is vastly different. Spurlock’s fiancee walks to work in order to save money. The couple also encounters a personal trouble of an ant infestation and a societal issue of finding nutritious meals on a low budget. With hardships such as these, societal issues tend to increase such as divorce and alcohol rates. In contrast, Ehrenreich encounters unsafe working conditions. Throughout these experiments, both Spurlock and Ehrenreich are increasingly grateful they are able to partake in this situation as an experiment, not indefinitely. Although both experienced the hardships of minimum wage in different ways, it is clear both those who encountered this experiences as well as those who witnessed it understand minimum wage is significantly less than living