The Unlivable Minimum Wage

Wages and work are one of the most salient social problems that society has and is facing. This is because while not everyone is affected by other social problems, almost everyone, except for possibly the top 5 percent, are affect by low wages and decline in workers’ rights and conditions. This can be shown in the poverty rate, where 13% of Americans live under the poverty line, a figure that has remained relatively consistent since the 1970s even as businesses and corporate profits have grown dramatically. This is partly due to the decline in unions and the increase in part-time work, which helps business pay their workers lowers even if they have a high productivity.

I can relate to this myself because I have worked for the past year as a part time employee. At the time, the only positions that the company was hiring were part-time. This is because there is much less cost involved with part-time employees versus full-time employees. The business saves money because they don’t have to give as many benefits, hours, and they can give you lower wages because you are part-time. Speaking as a former part-time employee, the wages and benefits are quite laughable. The business will even go to extreme lengths to make sure you get no overtime by getting employees from different departments or even different stores. This has led to almost contradictory trend that even though unemployment is at record lows, the poverty rate has remained relatively consistent. How can the issue of low wages be resolved in a way that helps to preserve the growth of business while also allowing workers to actually be live with the wage they are given?