No person should live in poverty, especially in the richest country in the world working 40 hours/week. That is unacceptable.
The minimum wage was, and still is, founded on the idea that people working full-time should be able to afford a modest life (at least). FDR who signed the original legislation into law referred to it as a “living rate.”
A minimum wage is necessary in a capitalist system where business stop at nothing to achieve its goal - accumulating money. Without it, businesses would exploit labor, which is precisely why the min. wage was introduced in the first place. If you can’t pay your employees enough to survive, your business does not deserve to exist. “It seems to me to be equally plain that no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” - FDR.
Today, the federal min. wage of $7.25/hr is a starvation wage. 2.2 million Americans earn at or below this rate (1). ~20% of families with a worker earning up to the federal min. wage and ~13% of families with a worker earning between $7.25 and $12.00/hr are in poverty (2).
Since this is often not reason enough, here’s several more reasons to increase the federal min. wage:
Decreases employee turnover and absenteeism (Sources: 1 2 3 4)
Increases job performance (1)
Reduces income inequality (1)
A min. wage of $15/hr would raise the incomes of ~42% of Americans (1)
Common arguments against raising the minimum wage:
“Raising the minimum wage will do more harm than good. Businesses will lay employees off after being forced to pay employees more.”
If this argument reigned true, it would demonstrate precisely why a minimum wage is necessary. Businesses have been exploiting workers by underpaying them for years. However, no evidence exists to demonstrate that raising the minimum wage leads to mass layoffs. In fact, here’s 7 sources showing employment is overal unaffected by min. wage increases: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
“Raising the minimum wage will result in higher prices.”
Prices would only increase slightly (~3.3%), and the higher wages would more than compensate for the change. Also, because turnover (an expensive occurrence) decreases with a higher min. wage, businesses absorb the difference in costs (1 2).
“Companies will cut other benefits if forced to pay a higher min. wage.”
If this happens, it is not the fault of the minimum wage increasing, but of shitty businesses reacting in a capitalist system. Fortunately, research suggests this isn’t likely to happen (1, this source offers several studies you can review).
“Businesses will shift to hiring more part-time employees.”
Again, a shitty reaction of greedy companies. At worst, this change would not alter the financial situation of employees who would otherwise be working at their current rate (1).
For more information, check out the Economic Policy Institute, a credible think tank that reports on the issue.
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