“Raising the Wage”
by Grayson Cook and Henry Fraas
Below is a graph representing minimum wage pay rates in payment per hour. The green line represents the minimum wage in the payment standard for that year, and the blue line represents what the payment would be in today’s payment, adjusting for inflation.
So, What’s the Deal?
We all know minimum wage. It’s everywhere. Fast food restaurants such as Wendy’s or McDonalds, and retailers like Macy’s, Sears, and Target pay workers the minimum wage of simply $7.50 an hour. Though Some don’t realize how good this generation has it, though. Back in 1929, the minimum wage was a mere 25¢ (roughly $3.98 today, adjusting for the 2012 inflation). Many people would agree that it’s not great. In 2012, a group of a few hundred fast food workers in New York went on strike, demanding a $15 per hour pay raise. Skeptics say that a drastic increase as such was an unwinnable fight. Now with coverage in over 300 cities on six continents, the Fight for 15 foundation stands at 313.2 thousand Facebook likes, and 27.3 thousand Twitter followers.
Because the average age of minimum wage workers is between the ages of 16 and 19, some workers are not struggling with the current pay rate of $7.50 per hour and it might just keep getting better for these workers. The only problem with raising the minimum wage, though, is that the companies that are paying these workers will have to fire workers to compensate for the extra dollars needed to pay their employees, meaning those who have trouble paying for life already might get something bad coming their way.
Below is a chart based on the current average minimum wage of different countries
Below are 2 Charts with the average age and gender of minimum wage workers (out off 100%)