Chloe Reid
Reporter
Working for $7.25 an hour is an issue that is way more common to the average American adult than one would think.
For several years, $7.25 has been the federal minimum wage in America, causing many to struggle financially and experience an all too common problem of living paycheck to paycheck.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2018, there were 81.9 million workers or 58.8% of all wage and salary workers 16 and up in the U.S. that were paid at hourly rates. Of these 81.9 workers, 1.7 million were paid at or below the federal minimum hourly.
For someone working a typical full-time job at 35-40 hours per week, annual income for those minimum wage workers totals out to about $15,080. For comparison, according to the New York Times, the poverty line in America is maxed out at about $16,910 annual income for a two-person household. In order to not be considered as living in poverty, one of those two people would have to make $8.13 an hour or more.
Due to these statistics, President Joe Biden proposed to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 hourly. Biden stated, “No one working 40 hours a week should be below the poverty line.” If this comes into effect, the 1.7 million workers who experience pay at the minimum and under could have a chance of escaping poverty.
Increasing the minimum wage has been fought towards for years, with national movements such as Fight for 15, that have been promoting the increase in wage since 2012.
Today, it has become more prominent as the increase to $15 has become a much more probable reality. According to Fight for 15, with hosting strikes for employees, the movement has raised $70 billion in raises for 24 million workers nationwide. With all this being said, the increase of minimum wage in the U.S has been a controversial topic for years.
With a minimum wage increase, poverty in America may decline, but it also has the potential to affect labor costs and provide fewer jobs due to employers who are unable to satisfactorily pay a greater amount of employees.
According to CBS News, the federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009, which is the longest period of time it has gone without change since the idea of the minimum wage was passed in 1938. The postponement of the increase could be for a reason, such as the current possible issues with raising the minimum wage. The main question persists: should the minimum wage be raised in an attempt to assist the many U.S workers that face poverty each year, or should it remain the same in an attempt to keep labor costs down?
Many Idaho State University students feel that an increase could potentially be harmful, as it has the chance to hurt small businesses as well as the economy.
“I believe it depends on the area you live in,” says ISU junior, Alex Cuevas.
“If you live in a smaller city where there are lots of local businesses, it could hurt the business owners because they might not have enough money to increase pay to their workers, but in larger urban areas where companies can afford it, raising the minimum could be beneficial to those who make less money.”
“I don’t think we should raise the minimum wage because it would drive up the costs for small and local businesses and would create poverty,” said sophomore student Richard Colapietro.
Some students believe that small businesses wouldn’t be affected by the increase of minimum wage, and are for the increase in pay.
“I feel like small businesses wouldn’t be affected that hard by increasing the minimum wage since many small and local businesses hire people they are already familiar with and typically pay them above the minimum wage anyway, $15 might be a bit more but I think it is doable,” said freshman Samantha Howard.
With pros and cons in hand, raising the minimum wage to $15 could definitely have some positive potential.
With the wide range of opinions, only time will be able to tell if the rise in wage will end up being a detrimental or beneficial change to America’s economy
