Time for A Raise ...

Do you have a job? Are you making minimum wage? Is minimum wage not good enough? Are you struggling to make ends meet?  If so, this is for you. Recently, I have read an article called “Time for a Raise” by Patricia Smith about how president Obama wants congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 an hour which could benefit most people.

In the article, Smith talks about how why Obama believes that an extra $1.25 an hour could help millions of low-income families and people who need the most help. Obama says, “This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families.” I think that this is true, although some people may lose hours of work, and business may face budget cuts, a lot of others will still benefit from the increase of minimum wage. Obama also says, “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.” What Obama is saying is that that extra $1.25 an hour could have a huge impact on many lives, whether it’s a family with low-income being able to survive or a middle-class young adult who just spends the money as soon as they get it.

Also in the article, Smith talks about the opposition to Obama wanting congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00. Rajeev Dhawan says, “their hourly rate may go up, but their number of hours may come down, so it’s not an overall increase.” Which is also true, because if there are more than enough employees in a business, many of them will either lose their jobs or lose a few hours.

I think that Obama should convince congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00 because many families in the U.S come from low-income homes, and it’s understood that that is not a major change, but for families that are struggling to make ends meet that could mean all the difference.