Raising Minimum Wage

In the article "Time for a Raise?" the author, Patricia Smith, writes about how Barack Obama is proposing to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $9.00 per hour. The pay raise is striking many different problems to people and their businesses.

If Barack Obama is successful with his plans, many families will be helped out. Many people who are 25 years and older create the majority of people who earn minimum wage. But also many businesses will have to

10th grader Catrina Crable who attends Martin County High School works in a restaurant 20-25 hours a week making $7.79 a hour which pays for her gas, car insurance and her phone said "Even working so many house, I don't get paid that much, it's stressful."

People like Crable would support the change of her pay to pay for all of the things she has to and have money left over for herself.

During his State of the Union address in February Obama said "This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families, it could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets."

A counterargument that many store owners have is that they will not be able to hire many more new workers or give other employees raises. The unemployment rate would go up because of businesses that cannot hire.

U.S Chamber of Commerce Randy Johnson who represents businesses said "Small employers often have to operate under very slim profit margins; an increase has to be shouldered by that employer."

All though the minimum wage rise is hurting some businesses, there are 19 states that have put there minimum waging higher than 7.25 per hour. The only state that set there minimum wage at $9.00 per hour is Washington.

Obama wants to make the minimum wage $9 because he wants to tie the federal minimum to inflation so that it can rise with the cost of living.

15 million minimum wage workers will make an extra $3,500 a year with the minimum wage increase. That extra money will help many family’s help get themselves out of many situations.

If the minimum wage is raised, many, many families will be helped and businesses will just have to make their way out of firing people and raising other workers pay. It's something that will change the world.