With the new year came a new minimum wage increase of 15
cents in the state of Missouri. For those high school workers
who just work for extra cash, this means little. The average
teenager doesn’t work a minimum wage job full time, so the
income adjustments are negligible. But for those who rely on
their minimum wage job to pay bills, this can mean the difference
between having money to buy groceries or having to apply
for food stamps.
With minimum wage in Missouri now being 7.50 dollars an
hour, it’s 25 cents above the national standard. But, is this
enough to live on? The majority of minimum wage earners are
over 20 years old, which means it affects more than just teenagers
who are supported by their parents. It affects people who
are out of high school and more than likely are moving on with
their lives and have bills to pay and ends to meet.
President Obama is looking to increase the minimum wage
to 10.10 dollars, which would be the first national increase in
minimum wage we’ve seen since George W. Bush signed the bill
to increase the minimum to 7.25 dollars eight years ago. After
Obama’s proposal to bring minimum wage to 9 dollars last
February, it seems this new bill could bring the labor class up to
speed with the rest of the economy.
It’s not doubt that 7.25 dollars is strikingly low for a minimum
wage in the United States, and wholly outdated. The United
States has one of the lowest minimum wages of any developed
nation. Several European nations have adopted an agreement
between the employer and employee upon the wage, while
others have adopted a fair wages law where the court has say
over what is a fair wage for a job, such as Germany, but these
are mostly fading out as the minimum wage changes when the
judges do. It seems raising the minimum wage would be the
only thing that makes sense. So, here’s hoping Congress doesn’t
pout and whine like a little kid, as was seen when it decided to
shut down and sit in the corner when the country needs it to
work correctly.