Dear Next President,

Starvation, low school funds, high taxes, and debt. These are all real issues in the United States. These problems also have one thing in common, they can be solved by increasing minimum wage. Here's why the minimum wage should be higher.

I believe there are many problems with the United States, global warming, waste, space issues and debt. But I think the most important of all is minimum wage. The minimum wage is a mere 7.25 cents per hour, that’s less than most babysitters charge. I think to really “make our country great again” or improve anything we need to raise the minimum wage. Doing this will not only improve the lives of 77.2 million people of age 16 and older, it will help everyone. I think to help the U.S. We should look to other countries to be our role model. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, countries like Canada have minimum wages of about $10.50 an hour, and Ireland has a minimum wage of $10.23 an hour.

America is in extreme debt, and raising taxes isn’t the way to solve it, raising minimum wages is the way. By raising the minimum wage you raise morale. If you were to raise the minimum wage, people could afford to spend more money, buy more products, all with taxes on them. This would help solve America’s debt issue, without raising the taxes on people.

Another issue I think we need to address is the dropout rate. According to DoSomething.org every year over 1.2 million students drop out of High School in the U.S. alone, that’s a student every 26 seconds. Most go straight into a minimum wage job, some because they needed to help support their family, all who make minimum wage. As you can see the issue of minimum wage is a vicious cycle. If these people, who suffer daily and go to bed hungry, could have a job that could at least get them dinner every night and possibly even a low-end apartment, just the bare necessities, that would at least be a start, a start considering what they go through now.

Some people say that raising the minimum wage would increase poverty, but those people must not understand that raising the minimum wage will lift almost millions out of poverty. According to a 2014 congressional budget office report, raising the minimum wage to 9 dollars would lift 300,000 people out of poverty. Raising it to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty. People have responded to the proposal of a minimum wage hike with the idea that it would hurt employees, they state that it would become more difficult to become employed and that their jobs teach basic skills, but what future job requires employees to need to know how to deep fry?

While it may be true that some business owners say that by raising the minimum wage they would be forced to raise the price on products. Corporate business owners say that they would raise the prices of items like fast food up to 4%, which equals less than a dollar, but by raising the price of some products slightly, it would bring in more tax money with each purchase. This would not only help out millions, it would help all of America out of debt.

According to PBS Newshour, based on our GDP (gross domestic product) our minimum wage should be 12 dollars, instead, it’s 7.25. According to David Cooper, an economic analyst at the economic policy institute, that when workers struggle to make ends meet productivity sags, morale suffers, and turnover rises. Some people also say that people need to work harder, tell that to the woman who died in her car in between shifts from overworking.

So as you can see, the minimum wage is a real issue with real effects. If we raise minimum wage we can help out millions. By raising the minimum wage, we can solve awful things such as hunger, homelessness, and debt, is there really any reason not to? Improve minimum wage, improve the economy, improve the country.

Respectfully Yours, 

Hannah. 

Work Cited Page-

“11 Facts About High School Dropout Rates.” DoSomething.org, DoSomething.org, https://www.dosomething.org/us/facts/11-facts-about-high-school-dropout-rates.

“Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers, 2015 : BLS Reports: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Apr. 2016, http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/minimum-wage/2015/home.htm.

“The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income.” Congressional Budget Office, Congressional office report, 12 Aug. 2015, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/44995.

“History of the Federal Minimum Wage.” Financial Ramblings RSS, Financial ramblings, 18 Sept. 2012, http://www.financialramblings.com/archives/history-of-federal-minimum-wage-rate/.