Minimum wage chains workers to poverty, hopelessness

Cold, hungry, and sick. This is the reality for one out of nine people in the U.S. who live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Those 37 million people have to live without knowing where their next meal will come from. This all becomes more insufferable to hear knowing that poverty has been on the rise partially because of the low wages that American workers are forced to endure.

Companies pay their workers as little as possible to maximize their own profits. It’s difficult to question the idea that companies would pay workers even less if they could, but the only barrier that corporations cannot cross is the federal minimum wage.

The minimum wage regulations in America are outdated and need to be amended. Accounting for inflation, corporations are getting away with paying their employees less than they would’ve paid them in the late 1990s despite a dramatically increased cost of living.

The original minimum was established at $0.25 per hour in 1938 under the FDR Administration and has since increased 22 times over the past 83 years.

While evolving, the minimum wage reached its peak buying power in 1968 with a wage of $1.60 per hour, which is coincidentally the last time it kept pace with inflation. This may seem a miniscule raise at first, but $1.60 in 1968 is equivalent to $11.53 in 2019. For someone working full-time, that is an increase of almost $9,000 per year when compared to minimum wage. 

2009 was the last time the wage was changed with its increase to $7.25 per hour, and that is simply not enough. A full time worker working 2080 hours per year (40 hours per week for 52 weeks) will bring home $15,080. Working for this is barely livable, as it is effectively working for scraps.

In order to clarify the reality of this lifestyle, living on $15,080 needs to be put into perspective. The average cost of living for a single person in the U.S. is $31,613.78, more than twice a minimum wage salary. Rent alone costs an average of $9,408. That leaves only $5,672 for other essential expenses such as groceries, transportation, and medical.

Workers are forced to make sacrifices in order to keep themselves afloat financially. They trade necessities such as insurance in order to afford their basic needs. The choice is either that or suffer through longer work hours.

As an individual, living under $7.25 is, while unbearably difficult, somewhat possible -- until you account for children.

Having to support not only yourself, but also a child, makes living under minimum wage truly grueling. Two working adults with two children both need to work a 75 hour work week at minimum wage in order to support their family. Leaving a family in poverty only ends up continuing the cycle of poverty as 40% of children who begin life in poverty will stay impoverished into adulthood.

Why do we continue to allow the hardest working Americans to suffer the most financially? There is no clear answer because there is no reason why those who contribute an extreme impact to society are given the least in return.

When the minimum was first introduced, it was proposed as a way to guarantee a livable wage for all Americans.This clarifies why the wage needs to be increased, so that any American working full-time can provide for themselves and their families without sacrificing necessities or working insane hours. Raising it from $7.25 per hour to at least $15 per hour will allow financial stability to those who have been denied it for so long.

Raising the federal minimum rate would increase wages for 17 million American workers, according to the Congressional Budget Office. That is 17 million workers and their families lifted out of poverty and into a more financially stable position.

Those against raising the minimum wage suggest that it wouldn’t help those living in poverty. They claim that most minimum wage workers live with others that make more money, therefore meaning that they aren’t poverty stricken.

This claim is utterly ignorant and completely disregards those who are supporting themselves or others. It also ignores all of the other positive impacts that raising the minimum wage would have on the economy.

The federal minimum wage remaining at an inadequate level leaves some of America's hardest workers behind in the dust. These workers deserve to eat, be healthy, and be warm; furthermore, the best way to ensure that is to raise their earnings.

Raising the wage will allow millions of Americans to finally pursue their dreams and aspirations. As the economy attempts to recover from the earlier events of the ongoing pandemic, an influx of jobs have become available. There is a present plethora of opportunities for these workers to attempt achieving the American dream and securing their futures, and a raising of the minimum wage can ensure that result for millions.

by Brody Wolff

Oshkosh West Index Volume 118 Issue IV

January 31st, 2022