The issue with Minimum wage has sparked a lot of attention and affected a lot of individuals for years. The set minimum wage for those of whom are in the United States is $7.25 a hour for workers (Doyle, 2018). The problem with minimum wage in America is that it causes a lot of poverty, causes individuals to work more than just one job. Minimum Wage also affects our youth in society.
Minimum wage has been a consistent problem since the mid 1900s. “Unless Congress acts quickly, November 2018 will tie the mark for the longest period the federal minimum wage has gone unchanged, in nominal—not adjusted for inflation—terms, since it became law in 1938,” (Spriggs, 2018, p. 233). This quote goes to goes to show how long of a fight it’s been for Americans trying to increase their minimum wage amount. Many rich white men planned to use the lower wage as a way to pay Blacks in the 1900s to keep a competitive city during this period of time (S, 2018). The black people of our economy basically is what caused America to thrive so well in the 1900s.
Minimum wage is basically the lowest amount of funds that can be given to an individual for his/her work. Some states have different minimum wages though. The states with the lower amounts of pay are in the South of the United States (Spriggs, 2018). So sometimes it can depend on the regions you’re in a lot plays a role in the minimum wage amount that is distributed.
There is clearly a racial issue on the topic of minimum wage because Blacks are more affected by the low federal minimum wage than White individuals are. Considering that Blacks stay in the more low income neighborhoods they aren’t able to get the same job opportunities as others because most high paying businesses are far out. Memphis has a lot of jobs but many argue that they’re not worth getting and the struggle is worst for the Black community (S, 2018).
It’s also harder for blacks in this situation because of higher classes and political parties. Mostly everybody above them is White so they have no chance to seek higher demand (Spriggs, 2018). Blacks may want to talk to someone who controls a lot of the rules and politics but it would take every thing for them to accomplish anything due to their race.
There is also a pay difference between Blacks and Whites in Memphis. Black workers in Memphis get paid a significant amount of money less than White Workers and it’s actually $7 more to be exact (S, 2018). This pay difference affects the black community tremendously. The whites also are able to get their hands on more resources because of what they are surrounded by. Most blacks are surrounded by food deserts , those in which pay minimum wage.
One cause for minimum wage is that Big businesses who invest in millions of dollars into their companies, pay their workers very little for the hard tasks they have to complete. Businesses are turning down the offer to raise the minimum wage to $15 only 2 of the 25 have accepted the idea (Thomas, 2018).