Are Minimum-Wage Jobs Capable of Sustainment and Social Mobility?
When it comes to speaking on minimum wage employment, it’s usually the voice of politicians that are heard the loudest while those who are recipients of minimum wage are pushed to the back burner. Though there has been plans to help increase the minimum wage to $15, it wouldn’t reach that peak until 2022 and by then, the cost of living would have increased also. Are individuals who have minimum wage jobs capable of sustaining a lifestyle that covers the bare necessities and will they eventually be able to climb the rungs of a social and economic ladder? The increase of the wage may be seen as a positive thing, but should be considered as a negative technique that stops individuals from social mobility and keeps them in poverty.

Raising the minimum wage was a popular concept for two appealing reasons: it claims to increase the income of poverty-ridden families and it will be at no cost to the pockets of the public (MacCurdy 1). It was this belief that enabled those in Washington D.C to increase the wage from $5.15 in 2007 to $7.25 in 2009. The largest issue that many people speak on is the little to no possibilities for social mobility. Someone who works a minimum wage job would be considered lucky to receive a raise of a few quarters. Compared to the wealthy 1% of the world, do they even hold a chance at catching up? Though Americans like to believe that this a country of dreams and opportunity, social mobility is close to nonexistent. Or as The Economist puts it, “it’s not particularly high or low, but middling.” This was the result of a long-term research project at University of Michigan. The word “middling” means in the middle; average; not too great, but not too small. This can only be a positive thing to hear depending on where in society you are. If you are in the lower class, your chance of leaving that class may be rather small, it’s still possib...