Assignment 1:

Consider the topic you addressed in Forums 5 and 6.

(My forum 5: The federal minimum wage is a basic earning one gets for working for an hour. It was first introduced in 1938 during the great depression and has since then evolved through time of the growth and transformation of the United State's economy. The current federal minimum wage stands at 7.25 dollars per hour which was set back in the year 2009 (United States, 2015). In a present Americas economy, it becomes so challenging to survive with such a kind of pay; with the ever increasing cost of living many citizens are challenged and generally straggle to enjoy a stable life. This has coursed Americans to work overtime and even secure more than two Jobs in order to afford life in America. If the federal government increased the minimum wage, it would spare its citizens and enhance Job growth for its economy. But on the other hand, to increase the minimum wage also means to force businesses to lay off workers due to high payments which could render them bankruptcy. It is also true that if the minimum wage was increased, the poverty levels in the nation would reduce drastically. Yet one should not forget that with high or increased minimum wage come a high cost of living (Fisher, Fortney & Practising Law Institute, 2016).

If people harvest huge payment from their work this means that businesses have to sell their products high in order to have the money needed for the salary payments. This brings the assumption that the effect of higher minimum wage bill causes high cost of living is actually a balance to reduce poverty rather than increase. Because with a higher minimum wage bill which increases the cost of living the citizens can be able to afford the cost of living. This is also true with the current federal minimum wage; if the cost of life is in proportion to the minimum wage then people should be able to afford the cost of life with the current federal minimum wage (Clemens, Wither & National Bureau of Economic Research, 2014). This implies that sometimes it is not all about increasing the federal minimum wage, the solution could also be in the lowering of the cost of living to proportionate the current minimum wage such that citizens should not be subjected to overtime work or to doing two or three jobs round the clock to earn that extra coin to afford life.

References

Clemens, J., Wither, M., & National Bureau of Economic Research. (2014). The minimum wage and the Great Recession: : evidence of effects on the employment and income trajectories of low-skilled workers.

Fisher, M. R., Fortney, D. S., & Practising Law Institute. (2016). Wage & hour litigation and compliance, 2016. New York, New York: Practising Law Institute.

United States. (2015). Improving the federal wage and hour regulatory structure: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Committee on Education and the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives, One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, second session, hearing held in Washington, DC, July 23, 2014. )

(My forum 6: A minimum wage was first stated in 1938 by the American government, and it was starting at $0.25. Its increase was felt until the year 1981, whereby the minimum wage stood at $3.35 until the year1990. After that, the increase was gradual until its current minimum wage of $ 7.25 which is from the year 2009 CITATION Cle14 \l 1033 (Wither, 2014). The significance of the existence of minimum wage economically is due to its role in resulting to an increase in purchasing power as well as productivity. However, due to the aspect of inflation, minimum wage value as significant decreased, and consequently, it is not as much valuable as initially.

The decreasing value of minimum wage is one of the primary reason for the need of the minimum wage to be increased by the government. Besides, the United States Department of Labor also is of the opinion that workers minimum wage should be raised CITATION Cle14 \l 1033 (Wither, 2014). Some States felt the need of employees minimum wage to be increased, such as New Jersey, which stands at $8.25. Which is a trend also manifested by other nations such as Washington .D.C, whose minimum wage is of $9.32.

Therefore, from the observable trend, it is essential that minimum wage should be increased, as illustrated by Washington's opinion for the minimum wage to be raised even up to $15 an hour, which is a step Seattle city recently did. The move was seen as a long overdue shift to at least a state of a sustainable wage CITATION Cle14 \l 1033 (Wither, 2014).

Furthermore, across America, the existence of a small minimum wage has therefore been felt like a contribution towards the growth of working poor within the society. Industries with low-paying jobs further resulted in the loss of employment during the Great Recession also impacting on the poverty level within the community. Moreover, a study indicates that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will consequently lift an estimate of 900,000 people from their poverty status.

The minimum wage is currently of great significance to the society, and this is because these minimum wage workers are mostly breadwinners and not teenagers. Thus, the amount received can barely support their families CITATION Cle14 \l 1033 (Wither, 2014). Therefore, there is a need for the minimum wage to be increased for these families to provide support to their families and hence keep out of poverty. Moreover, there are further benefits from an increase in minimum wage, and more sales will be realized since low-wage workers will have the means. This will, therefore, result in faster growth and consequently creation of more jobs. Additionally, there will be less payment of Medicaid as well as any other assistance the current working poor may have required.

References

1033 Kearney, M. (2005). The economic winners and losers of legalized gambling. New York: New York.
Wither, C. J. (2014). National Bureau of Economic Research: The Minimum Wage and Great

Recession. New York: McGraw-Hill. )

Write an analysis of the topic you've chosen, addressing:

What the topic is

Why you think the issue is important; discuss how common the problem is, and how many people it affects.

What current policies relate to this issue?

How you'd like to see the policy change, or what policy you'd like to see enacted?

What agency or groups have the ability to influence the establishment of this policy?

Use a minimum of 3 references. Paper must be between 1200-1500 words.