Cecil Eusery, 52 moved to Detroit in 2014, after his mother died.  He was in the campaign “D15” in support of increasing Detroit’s minimum wage. He was an employee at Burger King for $8.15 an hour, the minimum wage in Michigan at that time, working as much as he could but that was only around 25 hours a week. He was interviewed by Jim Lenahan for an article “Hear stories of people living on minimum wage” on USA Today, Oct 16, 2016. “It's hard, If it weren't for my god mom, this is her house; I get a room upstairs. If it weren't for her, I don't know what I’d do" Cecil says. Cecil was barely able to keep up with the costs of living. Unfortunately, this problem doesn’t stop with Cecil, people being abused by the minimum wage happens all over our country. The federal minimum wage has stayed the same since 2009 regardless of rising prices and it should be raised. Families cannot survive on minimum wage, but raising it could affect the economy so how it would be raised is also important.

The first thing to look at is families not being able to survive on minimum wage. When the federal minimum wage was created in 1938 under the Fair Labor Act it was meant to be a living wage. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “By living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level, I mean the wages of a decent living.”. Unfortunately, it is no longer a decent living wage. The hourly rate hasn’t kept up with costs of living since the 1960s but it is even more apparent now with prices climbing like they are. There are so many people like Cecil who are struggling just to make it to the next paycheck. A minimum-wage worker with a family of four falls well below the poverty line. According to an article by Andrew Bloomenthal on Investopedia on March 18, 2022 “Can a Family Survive on the US Minimum Wage?”, most people can’t get by on minimum wage. Working 40 hours a week with a $7.25 an hour salary makes less than $290 per week after tax. That pay puts a worker just $3,310 above the poverty line. Add just one dependant such as a child and the worker falls into the federal classification of poverty. With the minimum wage staying at $7.25 an hour since 2009 people are struggling and income isn’t keeping up with the costs of living. Even though many states have their own minimum wage and in some cases even double the federal minimum, workers still have trouble making ends meet. Raising the minimum to $15 an hour would bring .9 million families above the poverty line, and benefit 27 million people but cost 1.4 million jobs. The minimum wage is no longer a livable wage, it hasn’t been for over half a century. But growing support among workers and city governments to raise it, which would affect the economy.

The second thing to look at is how raising the minimum wage would affect employment. According to an article by Lily Roberts on CAP, January 27 2021 Raising the Minimum Wage “Would Boost an Economic Recovery—and Reduce Taxpayer Subsidization of Low-Wage Work”, raising the minimum wage would stimulate the economy. Increasing the wages would greatly decrease people relying on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) because many workers are paid so little that they must rely on the public social safety net. It would have many affects on the economy other than that. It would decrease pay inequality for women and people of color and increase community economic activity. Black and Latino workers represent a disproportionate amount of under payed people in our country. With more money in workers wallets and less of a pay inequality spending would increase and boost growth in the economy, especially locally. Although if the minimum wage was suddenly more than doubled it could greatly decrease businesses ability to hire and provide as many hour. The amount of money that they pay out to their employees would be doubled so it could hurt businesses and increase unemployment. Gradually raising the minimum wage can solve a lot of the issues presented by sudden increases to wages.

The third and possibly most important part is how the minimum wage would have to be raised. The best way to raise the minimum wage would be to gradually increase it to $15 an hour by 2026. This would mitigate the effects on job loss and allow businesses to increase their wages at a rate they could afford while still keeping their workers whereas a sudden double to the federal minimum wage would be disastrous for most businesses. Another thing that should be done is to gradually increase the tipped amount which is currently $2.13 an hour to be the same. After that, both should be indexed to match inflation so political gridlock doesn’t hold the wages of millions of people. An article by Nabeel Alsalam and others on the Congressional Budget Office, April 5th, 2021 “How Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage Could Affect Employment and Family Income” was based on a study about the effects of raising the minimum wage and the best way to raise it would be. Sub minimums for teenagers and disabled workers should also be eliminated because regardless of the person’s age they also are doing the same amount of work and should be paid the same amount of money. This plan of raising the minimum wage has the best potential for minimal job loss. Indexing it to match inflation will help it be a more permanent solution as no other federal wage raise has done the same. 

Families are not able to survive on what is supposed to be a living wage. Raising the minimum wage would have mixed effects on the economy and therefore must be raised in a certain way. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would help bring families above the poverty line and benefit 27 million workers across the country. It would reduce people's reliance on government funds for help and greatly lessen pay inequality for women and people of color. Raising the wage would boost spending and increase economic growth. An issue with this is the possibility of decreases in hiring and hours for workers as well as more joblessness. This can be mitigated by gradually raising the minimum wage over a longer period of time and indexed to increase with inflation so it can stay a living wage like it was meant to be. The federal minimum wage should be raised. There are far too many people just like Cecil Eusery who are abused by the minimum and are unable to pay for the expenses of living. Raising the minimum would help them get above the poverty line and increase the number of people no longer relying on government funds. A fair day's pay for a fair day's work is how the minimum wage was meant to be but unfortunately, it hasn’t been that in decades.