Will increasing the US minimum wage really affect poverty?

We have a higher minimum wage in some states, and also some cities have a 'living wage' law that raises it even higher. I really don't know how a person could survive on $7.25/hr, but if two got together they could probably rent a small apartment and buy food and essentials for that much. The minimum wage was supposed to be a temporary wage, an entry-level wage, and after six months or a year you'd get a raise.

But a lot of jobs don't require great skills, and people are very replaceable, especially in times of high unemployment. And we maintain at least 5% unemployment on purpose to keep wages down. Welfare is much worse!

It's more like $200 a month, perhaps with some kind of living quarters thrown in. And you can't stay on it forever. We really demonize the poor here, and I think the reason we do that is to distract people from the REAL crooks, the rich.

90% of our welfare in the US is CORPORATE welfare. People get all upset about some single mom in Iowa getting $250 a month but they don't think of the billions we give in subsidies to oil companies that are already very profitable. I think in the richest country in the world, anyone who 'plays by the rules', who shows up at a job every day, should live above the poverty line.

And the poverty line, also, has not been revised in decades. Economic inequality and unfairness is slowly becoming one of our worst and most insoluble problems.

The difference lie with many different factors: First, you have to look at economies of scale ... the population of the US is about 320,000,000. Next major difference is the power of the unions. Although some states have a much higher union influence than others, the high number of non-union jobs affects the wage structure.

Next, as you pointed out that your tax level is at 30% whereas in the United States there are many people that actually get more money returned than they pay in taxes so our tax structure goes from a negative tax, meaning a net gain to the citizen to a high end tax rate of about 35%. Next, realize that there are actually a fairly low percentage of Americans that work for minimum wage ... my teenage daughter just got her first summer job right after high school graduation and she is starting at $9.00 per hour. As for average wages for various industries just google United States Department of Labor.

They maintain the statistics for that sort of thing. Perhaps another big difference in the US is the "standard of living". THose that don't believe they can survive on minimum wage it is likely due to living with mommy and daddy for the first 18-26 years of life and mommy and daddy had worked their way up to a comfortable lifestyle and the young adults don't understand why they can't start out at the lifestyle their parents worked their whole life to achieve.. Minimum wage is not intended to be the wage you earn after working for thirty years but by the same token, why should a company pay a high wage to a young, uneducated, inexperienced employee.

Once the employee has a skill and experience worth higher compensation then they move up the pay scales as well.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.