In 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression, president Franklin D. Roosevelt sought to alleviate the financial instability of the American economy. Roosevelt signed the National Industrial Recovery Act, which introduced the idea of a national minimum wage. The supreme court ruled the national minimum wage unconstitutional just two years after it was instituted. It was reinstated three years later under the Fair Labor Standards Act when the supreme court was more compliant. The minimum wage was set at 25 cents an hour for skilled workers in mining, manufacturing and transportation. (T 1) After the national minimum wage was finally accepted by congress in 1938 the debate centered around the decision of where to set the wage floor (W 1).
In recent years, some Americans have been fighting to increase the minimum wage and have met others who strongly oppose this decision. Proponents of increasing the national minimum wage argue that minimum wage workers aren’t making enough money to live off of and need to use government aid. They also believe minimum wage workers aren’t fairly represented in the government, and the income gap between these workers and the middle class has grown too large.
Opponents of increasing the national minimum wage argue that increasing the national minimum wage will decrease the number of jobs, and the number of hours employees work. They believe smaller businesses won’t be able to compete with larger corporations, and workers considered vulnerable and low-skilled would be the first to be cut. These cuts would result in the workers not being able to gain valuable work experience and skills.
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Since the minimum wage was instituted by Roosevelt it has been a topic of great controversy. In 1938 when the national minimum wage was set it left out many groups of workers. Eventually, in 1966, U.S. Congress amended the Fair Labor Standards Act so the minimum wage would include agricultural workers and people who worked in public schools (W 1). In the past couple of decades minimum wage laws have been completely upheaved.
One way minimum wage laws have changed is state and city minimum wages can be higher than the national minimum wages (W 4). The current national minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. Proponents of increasing the national minimum wage argue that this wage floor is much too low to survive on.
Citizens of the United States who believe that the national minimum wage should be increased believe that minimum wage workers aren’t making enough money to live off of and need to use government aid. They also believe minimum wage workers aren’t fairly represented in the government, and the income gap between these workers and the middle class has grown too large.
The current national minimum wage has been set at seven dollars and twenty five cents an hour from 2009 to present day. The buying power of this amount of money has decreased by ten percent since 2009 (G 2). Resulting from this, minimum wage workers have trouble supporting themselves and their families. One third of minimum wage workers are trying to support a family. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a minimum wage worker at the national minimum wage wouldn’t be able to afford their rent for a two bedroom apartment if they spend thirty percent of their income on housing in any state (G 2).
A full time minimum wage worker, working forty hours a week, earns about $15,080 a year. The poverty level for a family of four is $24,250 (F 1). After taxes, the wage is only worth about $14,000. This annual income would only be possible if the worker took no days off and got no sick days (Q 2). There is no way you could take care of yourself much less a family on these wages.
A study at UC Berkeley looked at the fast food industry, and out of the ten biggest fast food companies two thirds were older than twenty years old. A significant number were single parents who had more than one child. Fifty two percent of these workers couldn’t support themselves and their families, and had to turn to government programs out of need (F 2).
Workers who make anywhere from the national minimum wage to nine dollars an hour have to use government assistance programs that cost taxpayers billions of dollars. McDonald’s even encouraged their workers to get food stamps (Q 2). Fast food company workers aren’t the only people that need government assistance.
A survey of 1,100 retail workers was published by the Center for Popular Democracy. This survey found that one in twelve front line retail workers held jobs considered high quality. For this survey a high quality job was an employee employed full time, paid at least fifteen dollars an hour and offered health insurance and at least one paid form of leave. One out of three of these workers hadn’t gotten a raise in the last two years. About one half of these workers got at least one form of government assistance in 2017 (R 2).
A small increase in the minimum wage would allow workers to be able to afford healthier food and better housing for themselves and their families (G 2). Many minimum wage workers can only afford to shop at very discounted stores because they don’t make enough money. This is detrimental for workers and businesses because they have to sell at such low prices and barely make a profit (D 3). Dollar General is one example of a store that has lowered their prices because they target low income customers. Target has also lowered their prices on thousands of items in 2018 because their customers can’t afford the prices.
Fast food restaurants are also lowering their prices because consumers can’t afford them anymore. These restaurants include Subway, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, Wendy’s and Little Caesars (D 2). “This suggests that purchasing power at the low end of the economy has become so corroded that sellers must fall over themselves to offer prices that barely enable them to make a profit” says David. The minimum wage needs to go up so companies don’t suffer, because prices depend on consumer spending.
Minimum wage workers aren’t fairly represented in the government, so it is difficult for them to increase their wages. Less than five percent of the retail workers in America have union representation. In other countries like France, Denmark and Germany they have union agreements that set wages and working conditions by region. The retailers in Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are required to post schedules weeks ahead and work on scheduling with the unions (R 2).
Many big companies in America have kept its workers from unionizing. In 2012, workers at fast food chains participated in a walk out in support of the right to unionize and in support of higher pay (F 1). If workers were allowed to unionize in America then they could successfully advocate for themselves in support of higher pay and a better quality of life.
Despite the numbers proving that minimum wage workers aren’t making enough money to live off of, some people in government positions are lowering the wages further. Republicans don’t want to raise the minimum wage and are trying to make cuts to programs like food stamps which these workers desperately rely on (Q 2).
Republicans have now started lowering the minimum wage in places where increases have started to happen. In Missouri, in early 2018, the governor didn’t sign a bill that would’ve increased the minimum wage for residents of Missouri (B 1). The same thing that is happening in Missouri is also happening in other places. For example, in Iowa the wage increase minimum wage workers received was also taken away from them (B 2). This increase is the difference between a living wage and living in poverty for many families.
A worker affected by this is Wanda Rogers. She is 46 years old, works at McDonald’s and lives with her daughter and grandsons. She was going to use the raise in Missouri from the state minimum of $7.70 to $10 to finally move her family out of their high crime neighborhood. Their apartment has mice and flea problems and their basement sometimes floods with sewage. Her grandsons can’t even go outside to play because their neighborhood is so dangerous (B 2). Without this increase many people can’t live comfortably even though they work so hard.
Even though minimum wage workers work just as hard as everyone else, in St. Louis the wages for white-collar workers went up and wages went down for blue-collar workers. The higher minimum wage would’ve helped decrease the income inequality gap in Missouri that is rapidly growing (B 3). The income gap is growing in Missouri and across all of America.
If the minimum wage had risen at the same rate of average wages of U.S. workers since 1968, the minimum wage would have been $11.35 in 2016 (M 1). Since the last national minimum wage increase in 2009 inflation has caused this money to be worth thirteen percent less than it was previously worth. The national minimum wage has decreased by one third since it was at its peak in 1968. In today’s money the minimum wage during 1968 would’ve been equivalent to $11.38 (K 1).
