According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 45% of hourly workers making minimum wage are between 16 and 24; the rest are full-time workers who use this income to live. It is unrealistic to expect these Americans to live a sustainable life on minimum wage. A person working 40 hours a week under minimum wage only earns 15,080 a year, prior to taxes. Increasing the minimum wage, which was last increased in 2009, would be beneficial to many Americans as well as to the economy because the incline of minimum wage would help to create jobs and increase economic activity.
There are many reasons why increasing the minimum wage would be beneficial. One reason is that in increase would result in a decrease in employee turnover which ultimately saves money for companies. When workers are being paid higher wages, they more likely to stay at a company which means the company does not have to spend money to train new employees. Raising the minimum wage would also increase productivity and reduce absenteeism. This is seen when stores are understaffed because many adults are just working minimum wage jobs until they are able to find a more sustainable job. Because of this, these adults are often calling in sick and doing the bare minimum. This is trend seen at many businesses who pay minimum wage. A large majority of the time, employees are only looking for a temporary job which ultimately loses money for the company.
Many will try to argue that an increase in minimum wage is directly proportional to the loss of jobs. This claim has been proven to be inaccurate as seen in many studies that were conducted within the past year. A University of California-Berkeley study found that increasing the minimum wage in major cities did not result in a disruption in the labor market. In fact, some studies even found that as the earnings of minimum-wage workers increased, there was also an increase in the demand for labor. As a result of an increase in the minimum wage, there would be a shift in the economy. This is because the transfer of income from employers to low-wage workers would result in more spending of money among low-wage workers. This in turn would help the economy and allow companies to grow and provide more jobs.
There are many advantages in raising the minimum wage. By raising the minimum wage, the economy will grow as there will be an increase in job opportunities. Additionally, there would be an increase in productivity and a decrease in employee turnover. Companies would also be saving money because they would be employing consistent, long-term employees. Because of this, we should be working towards raising the minimum wage as it is unrealistic to expect Americans to live a sustainable lifestyle on low wages.
