The cost of living has increased over the last 12 years, yet the minimum wage has stayed at $7.25 as many Americans are struggling to stay afloat.
Since the pandemic hit, many people have lost their jobs and are trying to make ends meet with the small stimulus packages they received from the government.
As the cost of living has risen in the United States, many would expect minimum wage to increase as well, yet that hasn’t been happening. The last time the country raised minimum wage was in 2009 and since then many more Americans are struggling to make ends meet.
The minimum wage needs to be raised to $15 as this would help many Americans in poverty or low-income families rise up and no longer suffer from the financial burden of only making $7.25.
It has been 12 years since this country has seen an increase in wages and that is the longest that it has ever been since 1938, the beginning of minimum wage under the Fair Labor Standards Act .
Things like rent, bills and tuition have increased to the point that people can barely afford it. It’s causing many to be unable to pay for rent and face eviction.
Many Americans are forced to live paycheck to paycheck.
“Nearly two-thirds of Americans, 63%, say they’ve been living paycheck to paycheck since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the U.S. earlier this year,” according to CNBC.
Raising the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 could be a tolerable amount as this would be a livable wage. Minimum wage deserves to be a livable as people should not have to work more than 40 hours a week to make ends meet.
As minimum wage affects all workers, Black people and women of color are the group that gets the worst of it as they are the workers who are extremely underpaid.
With increasing minimum wage, this would help Black workers and workers of color decrease the gap between the middle class and the lower working class in their communities while also increasing the opportunities they receive.
“The notion that we have people working for $7.25 an hour, which is the current federal minimum wage, is egregious in the context of all the wealth that exists in this country,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries (NY) to The Washington Post.
Some believe that increasing the national minimum wage to $15 would negatively affect the economy by having less people employed and cause inflation.
However, that’s simply not the case at all. “A $15 minimum wage by 2025 would generate $107 billion in higher wages for workers and would also benefit communities across the country. Because underpaid workers spend much of their extra earnings, this injection of wages will help stimulate the economy and spur greater business activity and job growth,” according to the Economic Policy Institute.
Increasing the minimum wage would not only help many Americans get out of poverty and live a more comfortable life but it would help stimulate the economy.
As people earn more money they will spend more money and this would stimulate the economy to grow. Those with increased wages would even shop more at local businesses and help their community.
The national minimum wage needs to be raised to finally help Americans not suffer from the financial burdens of living below the poverty line. While narrowing the gap between the low and middle classes and stimulating the economy, Americans will benefit from raising the minimum wage to $15 greatly.