Research Paper on Minimum Wage

Through multiple articles, Studies have shown that most minimum wage jobs can not support a family. Minimum wage can not support most bills that need to be paid and support all of the basic needs of a child. My issue is whether a minimum wage job can support a family or not. The minimum wage in Ohio is $8.90. Some people may argue that it is not enough to pay the bills and put meals on the table etc. My opinion is that low wages can not support a family. The main ideas that are going to be discussed in the article are how minimum wage can not support a family with children, why minimum wage should increase, and the benefits of an increase in wage and why pay is not necessarily the problem. Poverty, inequality and making it work, meaning the amount of time spent at work, that there is enough time for spending time with family. The history behind minimum wage and other factors can impact families. Throughout this essay the opinions could differ whether the wage  should increase, and learn the positives of wage increase. Then, learning about the counter arguments why wages should not be raised. What can happen if the wage increases? Most studies show that minimum wage can not support a family with children. 

Can minimum wage support a family?

Some people differ if minimum wage can really be able to support a family. With all the bills and other expenses, is a weekly or bi-weekly paycheck enough? A lot of factors depend on how many children you have. On top of bills and other expenses, other factors like do your children have clothes or shoes that fit etc. Minimum wage is no longer liveable. “Even though many states are paying more than this amount, minimum-wage earners continue to struggle to make ends meet” (Investopedia 2021). Most stores in Ohio are paying more than the minimum amount to bring in new employees. Which is beneficial, but overall money can still be tight for most families with both parents who work minimum wage jobs. Some families only have one source of income. Personally, I worked a job at a grocery store throughout highschool. My paychecks were weekly and I worked over 25 hours a week. In the summer I worked 40 hours a week. I saved most of my money for college but still was not enough. Comparing all my past paychecks without having to pay any bills is not enough for a family to live with basic needs.  

Positives of wage increase

There are many positive outcomes of having the wage increase for many people. Most people are strapped for money working for places and making only around eight to ten dollars an hour. If the wage increases, people will not have to worry about making sure they can pay their bills. Many people are in poverty, working many hours, and only making minimum wage. “By boosting the income of low-wage workers with jobs, a higher minimum wage would lift some families’ income above the poverty threshold and thereby reduce the number of people in poverty”(Congressional Budget Office). This would be able to reduce the number of families in poverty. Children can be affected by living off paycheck to paycheck, like not being able to eat sometimes, or having ill fitting clothes or shoes etc. Fitting a family's basic needs is costly and should be given to everyone. 

Pay is not the only problem

Although minimum wage is an issue, most places will not let you work over a certain amount of hours because of making sure they give everyone else the equal amount of hours. This can be an issue and most adults work two jobs so they can fit more hours in. Some companies do not offer full time, there are some companies and businesses that only offer part time jobs. In the article, they discuss that pay is not always the issue. Most companies can not offer full time or the hours that people need/want (Investopedia 2021). With some jobs only being part time, it does not leave much of an option for people but to get a second job. Most companies want employees for opening or closing shifts and have to work around everyone's schedules. This makes it difficult for people to get the hours they want. Overtime is also difficult with some companies. 

Minimum wage can not maintain the cost of living

In the article by Lendio, they discuss how minimum wage workers tend to fall below the poverty line because they can not keep up with the cost of living. Each paycheck mainly goes towards paying the bills and food. Which means that most of the paycheck would go towards rent (Lendio 2021). This is not sustainable and does not give enough room for other things. People in urban areas tend to struggle with maintaining somewhere to stay and then being able to commute to work each day. Depending on where people live, the prices of things can be a lot more than other places. For example, things tend to cost more to live in the city because a lot of people want to live there compared to other places. With most of the paychecks going towards bills, it does not leave much room to be able to eat and buy other important things like clothes and support children. 

History and distribution behind minimum wage 

After the Great Depression, the wage started to increase over time. President Roosevlet passed this in the New Deal to protect workers. “As articulated in the preamble to the Fair Labor Standards Act, a central goal of the minimum wage is to assure that low-wage workers have sufficient earnings to support a modest standard of living” (Belman and Wolfson, 2014, p.308).

This law was signed after the Great Depression to protect the overall well being of all the workers. Although minimum wage still to this day has not kept up with the cost of living. Throughout the years, wage have increased as in 1940 the minimum wage was $4.43 and now as of 2021 it is $8.80 in Ohio. This is increasing, but not enough from 1940-2021. The prices of everything are inflating and that means the wage will have to increase in order for a lot of people to be able to afford things or else most people will not be able to. The first ever outcome at increasing wages in the early 1900’s caused most goods to increase. This is one of the reasons the wage has not increased as much through this time span since the early 1900’s. 

Other factors that impact families

Although minimum wage can have an impact on families, the other important factor about working a lot to pay the bills is spending time as a family. Most parents or single parent income homes have to work a lot to support their children. This does not leave enough time to spend with their children. Most parents are too busy working to be able to spend time with their children and give them proper care. Some mothers buy their children clothes or toys to try and make up for their absceneses from working too much. “Women reported purchasing items and doing things that made their children feel better about themselves, such as buying expensive clothes or going to the movies” (Yoshikawa et al., 2006, p.175). Typically when most parents come home they are mentally exhausted from working many hours. They may feel overwhelmed because when they come home they have to make up by spending time with their children, which can be very difficult on a parent. 

Inflation of goods and services

Overall, raising the minimum wage can be very beneficial but some people see this as a bad thing. According to Forbes, if the minimum wage were to increase then the prices of goods and services would increase (Forbes 2021). Which means prices on most goods and services would increase and can upset some people. This can affect most people and it can affect businesses if products increase. Things such as prices on foods at restaurants, food items at a grocery store or even clothes could increase, which can make a lot of people upset and businesses can lose customers because of inflation of prices. Because of COVID-19, a lot of businesses are short staffed and are offering higher wages to bring in employees. Along with the higher wage incentive, a lot of normal day goods people purchase are inflating, making a lot of people upset. 

If wage increases hours may be cut

If minimum wage is increased, it can be very beneficial to the employee. Although if wages increase, hours may be cut. If hours are cut people may need to get a second job to make up the lost hours. Businesses will most likely cut employees hours back because they have to make up for the money they are losing with the increases in wage. Studies have shown that there is not only that factor, some jobs may even reduce teen workers. According to the article from Iowa State University, they mentioned that not only cutting hours but reducing hiring more workers etc are all negative factors that can come from an increase in wages. (Iowa State University,2021).

Why minimum wage should increase

Overall, there are many beneficial reasons the wage should increase. Many families can not afford to support the basic needs of living. It makes it very difficult for parents to support their children. Leaving them to work long hours every day and only to fall below the poverty line, there needs to be a better solution to fix wages for families. Although there are some negative impacts from increasing the wage, this can help bring relief to most families. Some people may think there is no need to change the wage, although they are not aware of the circumstances. This is why minimum wage can not support a family today.