Dylan Carbone (Edison): Cant even have a minimum life on minimum wage

25. February 2010 by student.

As we all know in the United States there is a minimum wage. Right now this is at $7.25 per hour (http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm). This wage is defiantly not enough to support any single independent person completely. If a person works a 50 hour work week they will make $362.50 before taxes. In a year this person will make $18,850 if they worked every single week 50 hours. The average cost of living in the US is about $95 a day (http://www.chacha.com/question/what-is-the-average-cost-of-living-in-america). If you do the math this is about twice what the minimum wage 50 hours per week person can make. Even with the most extreme of rationing and cost saving a single person cannot live on minimum wage alone. So why don’t we have a minimum wage where a person can support themselves? I purpose a minimum living wage. A federal standard that all INDEPENDENT people should make no matter where they work. To acquire this standard a person would have to prove independence some way to the govt. and their employer. This wage should be intended for the 30 something year old who has no other choice than to work at publix and not the kid who is trying to make some extra cash. It seems like a lot of the people on welfare and unemployment need these programs because minimum wage just doesn’t cut it and they need federal help. So why not give people an adequate minimum salary that they can truly live on rather then just hand them money because they are lacking funds.

Posted in Introduction to Sociology | 3 Comments »