Pro Minimum Wage Increase
- Minimum Wage Today
- The current federal minimum wage rate is $5.15 and hour.
- This minimum wage is 31% of the current average wage in the United States, which is its lowest relative value since World War II.
- The real value of the minimum wage is at its lowest value since 1955.
- Recent Debates on Minimum Wage
- Point Counter-Point
- The Hidden Heart of America
- US policy changes in the second decade of the twentieth century
Minimum wage, as one of the factors that influence wage inequality in any society, is directly responsible for either increasing or decreasing the income-distribution gap between the rich and poor households in the American society (Goldin and Margo, p.4, 24.) America significantly reduced its unemployment rate during the second decade of the twentieth century through government programs: in 1933 and 1934, the government passed regulatory policies for maximum working hours and minimum wage, which increased the income gains of the low-income households, leading to wage inequality decrease (Goldin and Margo, p.16, 21.) The US government, aiming at mitigating the welfare of low-income Americans, increased the minimum wage to produce egalitarian wage distribution throughout the society. The minimum wage policies had a positive impact on the bottom part of the society’s wage earners (Goldin and Margo, p.28.)
- Recent trends and facts
- The counter argument
- Do we have morale (are we an integrated part of our society)?
We are not alone on the frontier for a minimum wage increase: WHO is with us?
