Across the U.S., women and men are barely surviving on the minimum wage of a measly $7.25; some are even supporting children. President Obama has said the minimum wage should be raised to $10.10, which has sparked much debate. However, when the question of raising the minimum wage arises, why isn't putting these people out of their misery the first thing to come to mind? The minimum wage needs to be increased. There are families depending on it, the fact that the link between the amount a person produces no longer correlates to how much they make should be highly considered, and most of the minimum wage workers aren't teenagers, contrary to popular belief. The minimum wage isn’t living wage, and therefore, needs to be changed.

To begin, the minimum wage needs to be increased is because how much Americans work no longer dictates how much they’re paid. In the article “Pro/Con: Should the fast-food industry pay better wages?” it says “The richest 1 percent of Americans have doubled their share of America’s total income from 1980 to 2011” (Weisbrot para. 8). It also states that it “...didn’t double...because of changes in technology or because they had the most needed skills” (Weisbrot para. 8). This means firstly, there’s less money in the lower classes, so no matter how hard they work they’re still not going to see an improvement. Also, the richest people have increased their income without having to have unique skills. This is why in the argument against the raise, the counter of how hard it would hit the small businesses shouldn’t be relevant. It’s the job of the higher class to spend money, specifically at small businesses, in order to save them from bankruptcy. If the upperclass where to fulfill this duty, the economy would improve drastically and help create more jobs in the long run. That way, people would also be able to enhance their situation and stop depending on minimum wage. It’s time for the paychecks of minimum wage workers to reflect the amount of effort they exert in their jobs.