Emily Overby (FGCU) Minimum Wage vs. Cost of Living

Minimum Wage vs. Cost of Living

In today’s society the needs and wants of a majority of people and especially in the United States have changed to bigger and better things. However, with this change in the consumer needs and the increase of prices of a majority of the markets there should be an increase in the income of these consumers. The current minimum wage is nowhere near up to par compared to the cost of living in the United States in the year 2010.

                     A majority of people live off of minimum wage and realistically it is more than most people believe. In this new decade the economy is obviously at a low but people still want to spend and live like they have done in previous years.  According to the Past, Present and Future of Minimum Wage by Stan Reybern, “the federal minimum wage for the United States began in 1938 and was set at $.25 per hour and although it has increased over the years, in theory, it should keep up with inflation and the cost of living. As of right now the current federal minimum wage is set t $7.25 but in the end each individual state has the ability to set their own minimum wage”. Another interesting fact according to The Past, Present and Future of Minimum Wage by Stan Reybern statically speaking the majority of minimum wage workers are age sixteen to twenty-four and women make up more than half of the minimum wage workers.

                    According to our discussion in class , the problems are society are facing is the declining standards of living, stagnating wages, rising cost of living, decreased job availability ,and increase in debt. The working classes are the first affected by economic factors such as rising fuel cost, the declining wages, or even the increase in food prices. Since the working class is one of the largest groups and are the most affected there is a greater chance of this group slipping into the category of poor. The poor is a growing segment due to the increase of unemployment and the budget economy.

                  With all this information a person must be wondering how this effects them or the people in their community. According to the Living Wage Calculator for Lee County Florida for one adult the living wage is nine dollars and twenty four cents while the poverty wage is five dollars and four cents and minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty five cents. Although we may live in an area where we see high class housing and shopping centers on every corner our county still has a major problem with balancing minimum wage standards of living.

               With this information the solution seems simple the government should raise the minimum wage to meet the standard of living in our society today. However nothing is simple and according to Raise the Minimum Wage to a Living Wage “Studies have shown that government mandated minimum wage increases raise unemployment rates and if the minimum wage is increased the company dollar must be spread across fewer employees”. With every problem there is no clear cut solution our government must figure out some solution to this problem or the separation of the poor and rich will increase due to the lost of the middle class not being able to live off of or minimum wage not living wage society.  

http://www.billshrink.com/blog/the-past-present-and-future-of-minimum-wage/http://www.whitehouse2.org/priorities/19-raise-minimum-wage-to-a-living-wage 

This entry was posted on 26. April 2010 at 08:01 and is filed under Introduction to Sociology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.