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Mo’ Money No Problems: Raising the Minimum Wage

Every grueling long month my mother struggles to pay rent and bills, buy food with food

stamps, plus take care of her 5 children and herself with Medicaid. Not including her car

payment, cable bill and many other things she may need, with no man to help and that breaks my

heart. With the cost of living on the rise $7.25 per hour is not enough to keep a family of two out

of poverty. According to Dave Anderson in “Top 10 reasons to raise the minimum wage”,

raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would help 27 million workers bring home an extra $35

billion annually. Therefore, North Carolina should raise the minimum wage because then

people would not need so much government assistance (such as Medicaid, WIC, or food

stamps), college students have the most gain, and it would lift millions out of poverty/debt.

The first reason North Carolina should raise the minimum wage is that then people would

not need so much government assistance (such as Medicaid, WIC, or food stamps). Millions of

Americans rely on public assistance because jobs don’t pay enough to even meet their basic

needs (Cooper). Today a full-time worker paid the federal minimum wage is not enough to keep

a family of two out of poverty. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that raising the

federal minimum wage to $10.10 would increase family incomes of workers below the federal

poverty line by $5 billion and lift the income of workers between one and three times the poverty

line by $12 billion. Researchers West and Reich find that “a 10 percent increase in the minimum

wage reduces SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) enrollment by between 2.4

and 3.2 percent and reduces program expenditures by 1.9 percent” (Cooper). This means, raising

the minimum wage by even 10 percent than 2-3 percent of Americans will not need food

assistance for their families, and it would be a decrease in government assistance program

enrollment or buying. Raising the minimum wage would be a big improvement for millions of
American families because then many parents will have the things they need to get through the

week and not have to work long grueling hours or enroll for food stamps to buy a night meal.

For many workers in certain sectors, wages are so low that even those who work full time

must rely heavily on government assistance to make ends meet. Raising the federal minimum

wage to $12 per hour by 2020 would reduce means-tested public assistance spending by $17

billion annually (Cooper). These savings could fund a variety of improvements to government

anti-poverty tools such as, such as expanding the earned income tax credits to childless adults or

provide funding for new education initiatives, such as improving access to preschool for children

from low and moderate-income families. Reporter David Cooper found that “nearly half (49.6

percent) of all working recipients of public assistance work full time (at least 1,990 hours per

year)” (Cooper). This quote shows that most individuals full time and still needs to depend on

the government for basic needs. These programs provide a vital lifeline for individuals and

families struggling to get by, so raising the minimum wage will ease this struggle.

Given the rising cost of necessities such as child care, housing, and healthcare, many

families’ ability to achieve a modest but adequate standard of living requires resources earned on

the job and assistance from government programs. Adriana Alvarez, a cashier at Mcdonald's in

Chicago, is among the people pushing for higher wages. After 5 years, Alvarez earns $10.50 per

hour, well above the federal minimum wage of $7.25, yet she still depends on food stamps,

Medicaid, and child care subsidy to help get through the week (Conen). Adriana struggles to take

care of her 3-year-old son Manny and even though she makes well above the minimum wage line

she still struggles to make it by. “It's a crazy dilemma,” she said. “Do I pay the whole bill or do I

gas up the car to go to work?”(Conen). Many Americans ask themselves this every day and I

don't feel that it’s fair, we should have to live limited. The cost of living is continuously on the
rise, meaning people in minimum wage jobs can hardly afford to live off the money they make

and this has to change.

The second reason North Carolina should raise the minimum wage is that college

students have the most gain. Christian King like many college students is worried about keeping

up her grades and squeezing in extracurricular activities while holding a job (Tempera).

Therefore, raising the minimum wage would help students get the money they need and balance

between work and school, because students that work, 40 - 50 hours a week puts a strain on their

work. King says “I also need to pay for food and other extra things. I need the money”

(Tempera). This shows college students really depend on the money they get to pay for food,

tuition, a car or phone bill and more. Raising minimum wage would help students to make the

money they need without working long hours restricting their school time. College students are

just now coming out into the world on their own, so they need the most assistance and do not

have much experience or time to work 12-hour shifts for more large paying companies.

As difficult as it might be for businesses to budget the new expenses, student employees

need the minimum wage raise. Students often have to balance their school and work schedules

together, and sometimes they end up working two jobs to cover their basic needs (Gilchrist).

This is not very beneficial to students they should not have to put all their time into work just to

be able to afford what they need when they need education even more. Raising minimum wage

can avoid that. Leah Gilchrist states “unfortunately, to generate income to pay employees a

higher wage many of these shops might have to increase the price on other menu items”

(Gilchrist). Economically, this would help owners put money back into the system. Paying staff a

higher wage means employees have more money to spend once they get paid. While $2 might

not seem to make much of a difference, it can change how a student budgets time and money.
Many students work alongside go to school, and working while going to school adds to the

significant amount of stress they already experience.

Low wages also put students at risk of poverty, adverse health outcomes, and

homelessness. Exempting young workers for a $15 minimum wage would hurt their career

prospect and futures, as they would be forced to either take out expensive loans in order to afford

tuition and basic necessities or work close to full time (Lathrop). There is just not enough time in

the day to work long hours and focus on school, leaving students with the decision of having to

apply for credit cards or take out massive loans and have to live in poverty paying those back.

According to Yannet Lathrop “In 2015 - 2016 school year, nearly 21,000 community college

students in Massachusetts received federal student loans averaging $4,500” (Lathrop). Many

individuals end up in debt and are still paying off student loans due to not having enough time to

work and go to school, forcing them to borrow money or enroll for government assistance to

have what they need to survive. Ramen noodles and the cat bus are the way of life for many

minimum wage college students and Congress raising the minimum wage can help take the stress

off the students’ shoulders.

The third reason North Carolina should raise the minimum wage is most importantly, it

will lift millions of Americans out of poverty/debt. ROC United, a group focused on better

working conditions for restaurant workers found that a $10.10 wage would lift nearly 6 million

people out of poverty (Covert). The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has

stayed at that level for more than 4 years. That is not enough to keep a parent who works for that

wage full time, year round above the poverty line, nor is it enough to make market rent in any

state. Workers’ productivity has increased so the minimum wage should do the same. Covert

found that “a $10.10 wage would boost GDP (Gross Domestic Product) by $22.1 billion
supporting the creation of 85,000 new jobs” (Covert). This shows that raising the minimum wage

low-income workers are likely to spend a large portion of any extra pay, putting the money back

into the economy. Higher wages will help create jobs, bring in more employees, and improve the

support of many American families.

The federal minimum wage amounts to just $15,080 a year full-time work, that translates

into declining living standards, reduced economic mobility, and a shrinking middle class.

Michael Lastoria, the CEO of &Pizza, understand that the company's most valuable asset is its

employees, so he pays a starting wage of $10.50 per hour instead of the state minimum wage of

$7.25 per hour (Lu). For &Pizza, higher wages reduce employee turnover, Increase productivity

and improve customer service. From Michael’s point of view “its a simple, critical, concept: take

care of your people and they will take care of your customers” (Lu). Raising the minimum wage

will put employees in a position to come to work faithfully and give all their support expecting

that same support in supporting their everyday needs. If we have to go to work for many hours,

work hard, deal with customer attitudes, and even disrespect from employers, we deserve to get

paid enough to make it through the week and not come home to an eviction letter on the door.

A $10.10 minimum wage will help to reverse some of the damage done by the great

recession. The economic downturn and recovery has brought high unemployment and brought

down wages. Three-fifths of the new jobs created during the economic recovery paid low wages,

according to an August 2012 analysis from the National Employment Law Project (Berman).

There are more people getting lower wages rather than decent amounts of money leaving them to

struggle for the things they need. According to Dean Baker, the co-director of the left-leaning

Center for Economic and Policy Research, “ (Dube’s study) is just re-confirming that no,

actually most people we see in the minimum are not in that boat; we’re looking at a lot of people
that are the sole supporter of the family or main supporter of their family” (Berman). This quote

shows how some argue that raising the minimum wage would barely make a dent in reducing

poverty because many minimum wage workers are young people just working to make extra

money and I do not agree. Many individuals are in the survival of the fittest and need the

essential wages to be able to make it in the world we live in today.

During the first year, with an increase from $7.25 to $8.10, nearly 13 million directly and

indirectly affected workers would see higher wages. This number would rise to about 20 million

workers with the second increase to $8.95 in 2013, and to more than 28 million workers with the

third increase to $9.80 in 2014, shown in the figure above. As detailed later in this section, the

vast majority of these workers are not teenage part-time workers; rather, most are at least 20

years old, over half work full time, and many are struggling to support their families.

Opponents say that many businesses cannot afford to pay their workers more, and will be

forced to close, lay off workers or reduce hiring. Wage increases have been shown to make it

more difficult for low skilled workers with little or no experience to find jobs or become
upwardly mobile, and does not take into account regional cost of living variations where raising

the minimum wage could hurt low-income communities in particular. This position seems

convincing at first, but proponents of a higher minimum wage state the current federal minimum

wage of $7.25 per hour is too low for anyone to live on; that a higher minimum wage will help

create jobs and grow the economy.

North Carolina raising the minimum wage would help millions in poverty and put them

back on their feet. Many moms struggle to take care of their families every day trying to make

ends meet. College students have to take out a bunch of student loans or work long hours to

support themselves and that puts a strain on their will to get an education and ends up in debt by

the time they leave college. Workers should matter and be supported, not worked to death or

forced to take out loans to afford the basic necessities. If we have to come to work and put in our

all and support “Congress must raise the minimum wage to a living wage.”-Sen. Bernie Sanders

Works Cited

Conen, Patricia. “Working but needing public assistance anyway”. nytimes. The New

York Times, 12 April 2015. Web. 8 March 2018.

Cooper, David. “Balancing paychecks and public assistance”. epi. Economic Policy

Institute, 3 February 2016. Web. 8 March 2018.

Covert, Bryce. “Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 could lift nearly 5 million out of

poverty”. thinkprogress. ThinkProgress, 3 January 2014. Web. 12 March 2018.

Daily Wildcat, 31 March 2017. Web. 12 March 2018.

Jillian, Berman. “A $10.10 minimum wage could lift about 5 million out of poverty”.

huffingtonpost. HuffPost, 02 January 2014. Web. 12 March 2018.

Lathrop, Yannet. “In support of a $15 minimum wage and against a youth wage in

Massachusetts”. nelp. National Employment Law Project, 19 September 2017. PDF. 12 March

2018.

LU, Chris. “Why it's the perfect time to raise the federal minimum wage”. time. TIME, 24

July 2017. Web. 12 March 2018.

Tempera, Jackie. “How much would a minimum wage increase help students”.

college.usatoday. USA TODAY College, 31 July 2013. Web. 12 March 2018.