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Can You Afford To Live

Can You Afford to Live?
According to Wilson, 1.6 million Americans earn minimum wage, over half of which are teenagers or young adults under the age of 23.   The majority of these teenagers live in families with incomes of two or more times the official poverty level for their family size (Wilson).   These minimum wage earners are working to supplement their lifestyles. Most within this group are not solely responsible for supporting themselves or their families.   The remaining 50% of minimum wage earners that live at or below the poverty line would need assistance to support themselves.   Would an automatic salary increase be the solution? Should we raise the minimum wage to a living wage?   The minimum wage debate is one that has been discussed for many years.  
Asking employers to pay minimum wage workers a living wage would practically put small business owners into bankruptcy (Caldwell). Where would these business owners receive the additional money?   They do not have the ability to conjure up the extra money out of thin air.   The demand for low-wage workers would decrease because the employers would not have the financial means to put towards paying each worker a higher salary. Business owners would end up cutting the hours of their work force, or there would be a reduction in the amount of jobs made available. The decrease in available jobs that would result from requiring employers to raise wages is a strong point against such an action.
Higher salaries would be on the backs of the consumer.   As stated by the Federal Reserve Board, the vicious cycle between living wage and inflation results in the dollar value falling and wages increasing until the amount of money needed to compensate becomes too great. The least skilled workers would become unemployable at a higher wage rate and in effect, these workers would be out of the job market completely and be completely reliant on government subsidies.   Raising the wages of these workers would cause more harm...