Friday, March 31, 2017
Blog Stage 5 - Texas should Raise its Minimum Wage
Texas should raise its minimum wage. The last time Texas raised its minimum wage was in 2009; which was eight years ago. The year prior to the 2009 raise in minimum wage, the poverty level for a one-person household was $10,400 of annual income and the minimum wage was raised from $6.55 to $7.25. Since then the poverty level has risen to $11,770. That is a rise of more than one thousand dollars and still, Texas has not seen a change in its minimum wage. In data from http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/48, living expenses for a one-person household in Texas are $22,185 annually. That turns out to be an hourly salary of $10.66 to pay for typical expenses for yourself. Texas has the most minimum wage earners than any other State in the country. Many have argued that increasing the minimum wage kills jobs but this has been proven to not be true. According to an article titled Conservative Myths on Minimum Wage written by Duncan Hoise and published on Huffington Post in 2016 during the year of 2012, 10 states raised the minimum wage and from 2012 to 2015 those 10 states had no increase in unemployment. In fact, It was noted to do the opposite; ever one of those 10 states had a decrease in unemployment. In 2014 hundreds of economists signed a statement in supporting a minimum wage of $10.10. Research also suggest that a raise in minimum wage will cause a raising demand and job growth due to the low wage workers spending their additional earnings. An increase in minimum wage would also reduce worker turnover and ultimately remove thousands of families out of poverty.
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On my classmate's blog Sweet Tea and Politics blog I found an interesting post entitled "Texas Should Raise Its Minimum Wage" this a not so talked about topic these days in Texas. I find that this topic should be talked about far more than it is, or at the very least be as talked about as all the other major topics in Texas such as Gender Equality or Cannabis Legalization. It is sad that we have not raised our minimum wages since 2009 and this should be changed immediately before we are all out on the street. If we take a look at Austin this increase is quite needed, with increasing gas, increasing rent, and increases in home and car prices the current minimum wage does not satisfy what is needed to live in Austin, this leads to more paycheck to paycheck households and a larger number of low-income houses. All these increases and yet the one place a real increase is needed has yet to happen, well I say this wage increase should happen soon and fast, there are plenty of people willing work, but when you have those people work for less than what they are worth it instills a feeling of lower self-worth, stagnation and lack of ambition. Wages and Education are alike in this way; if we want our education system to go up we need to hold our students to a higher standard and with wages if we want our workforce to increase we need to have our wages increased to set a higher standard for our workers, it's simple really you get what you paid for.
ReplyDeleteIn the blog “Texas should Raise its Minimum Wage,” my classmate discuss Texas minimum wage hasn’t increased over the years. I agree with my classmate argument Texas should increase the minimum wage because the cost of living expenses have increased over the years. Texas is the second largest state and populated in the Unites States, currently, the minimum wage is $7.25. The net income from one job hasn’t been able to overpass residents living expenses. Many people are living check to check every week. Most residents have to get at least two jobs to cover their basic living expenses like rent and their utilities.
ReplyDeleteMy classmate mention about an article from the Huffington Post about ten states who have increase their minimum wage and the unemployment hasn’t increase, but in Texas, the unemployment has increased also the growing number of homeless. If Texas would increase their minimum we would have less unemployed and homeless. The more people with jobs the more collection in taxes that can be used for roads, schools, and other things. My classmate provided supporting fact for their argument. This blog was very informative and was able to communicate their idea. Texas needs to increase their minimum wage to compensate all resident who daily struggles to make ends meet. I hope we don’t have to wait more years until legislator increases the minimum wage. We need to create changes, so we can make our resident happier. So come Texas lets earn more money for our resident and for our state!
I agree with T the author of "Sweet tea and Politics" blog and their article http://sweetteaandpolitics.blogspot.com about Texas minimum wage. The minimum wage in Texas has been the same since I started having to work full time and I have witnessed the consequences not only on the employee side but on the managers and employers side as well. The state not choosing to raise the minimum wage effect employers too, making it more difficult to attract qualified and worthwhile employees for positions where minimum wage is normal starting point. Not only is it hard to attract qualified and worthwhile employers it is even harder to keep them with minimum wage. Often times employers find they hire someone who will work for a few weeks up to a couple of months and then never show up again. It’s a pattern of jumping from one minimum wage job to another and since they do not offer competitive pay employees look for other perks to keep them around like easy work, phone and break times, free stuff, and will often drop on a current employer without notice if another minimum wage job is available. There are pros to raising the minimum wage, not only attracting more qualified and all around better employees for employers but also economic stimulus. Capitalism thrives of the cycle of money earned and money spent, if Texas was to increase the minimum wage that would give citizens of Texas more money to spend, money earned is money spent which will continue the growth of capitalism. Once more, if we consider the group of individuals who are under the poverty line and enrolled in government programs to help them survive, raising the minimum wage would not only benefit the people surviving in poverty but in turn help the government programs spend less. If people have more money coming in from their employer to support themselves and their families they may become less depend on the government.
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