Minimum Wage In Oklahoma City

My blog is dedicated for the sole purpose of raising minimum wage in Oklahoma City to $10.10. Minimum wage, by definition, is the lowest wage permitted by law or by a special agreement. Minimum wage as of July 24, 2009 has been set at $7.25 an hour federally. Today, there are thirteen states that have taken it upon themselves to increase their statewide minimum wage. In Oklahoma City however, minimum wage is still stuck at the $7.25. Four and a half years later, it is time for a change. Minimum wage should be raised in Oklahoma City to $10.10 in order to better the lives of those who are trying to make a living off of that salary.

Although this image is a meme, there is a lot of truth to the statement it makes. It is time for Oklahoma to realize that the cost of living is increasing day by day and as citizens of Oklahoma City we need to be able to make enough money to live off of. Minimum wage workers today are having a hard time supporting themselves. Today, the minimum wage puts a family of two barely over the poverty line. Oklahoma is second highest among states in teen birth rates. Many of these parents could be single and could have a very hard time going to college while taking care of another person and may need to become employed in a place that pays minimum wage. While many people assume the people working for minimum wage are teenagers looking to get some extra spending money, they are wrong. The picture below shows who is actually affected, and who desperately needs the minimum wage to be increased to $10.10.

While researching other blogs I came across a blog that stated that there was a new proposal in the works. The blog, http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/blog/ , stated that the proposal is getting an immediate boost by the release of a new poll showing 75% of Americans – including 53% of Republicans – support raising the national minimum wage to $12.50 by 2020. Thus, an increase the minimum wage to $10.10 today would only make sense.
http://www.raisetheminimumwage.com/blog/

How The Value of Minimum Wage Has Changed

The value of the dollar is growing day by day. Everyone always hears stories about how much change could get you back in the day and now change can get you little to nothing. It is a known fact that if you go to buy a gallon of milk a few years ago it was cheaper. Means of transportation such as gas, cars, and tickets to use public transportation were also cheaper. All of these prices have been increasing steadily over the past couple of decades, so why hasn’t the minimum wage been increasing as well? In the last fifteen years congress have approved of two minimum wage increases.

As you can see from this graph, the value of minimum wage is not what it used to be. As of right now we have been heading back towards the value being what it was in the nineteen forties. An increase in minimum wage will not only get the people the value for their money back, but will also drive workers to be more productive, and would in turn improve their specific workplace. It is a known fact that better pay leads to a better worker morale and in turn will increase productivity. In a blog I came across, I found a quote from the CEO of Gap. He stated “Our decision to invest in front-line employees will directly support our business, and is one that we expect to deliver a return many times over.” All workers want to feel good about what they do, and increasing the minimum wage would keep people feeling better about what they do, keeping businesses flowing smoothly.
The link to the blog that I previously mentioned is https://blog.dol.gov/2014/07/18/what-5-employers-have-to-say-about-the-minimum-wage/

Increased Minimum Wage Benefits and Effects

An increase in minimum wage to $10.10 would not only be beneficial to the employees that would be earning the money, but there are social economic benefits as well. An increase in minimum wage would decrease income inequality. Income inequality, the gap between the rich and everyone else, else has been growing rapidly over the last few decades. Shrinking this income inequality would allow our economy to become more balanced and would move in the right direction of positively affecting social economics. 

One common assumption that is all over the Internet and media today as to why minimum wage shouldn’t be increased is because these workers are lazy. While that may be the case for some, it is wrong for people to sit on their high horse and deem 1.6 million people as lazy while they earn their higher wage salary. 

A lot of people also think that raising the minimum wage will be detrimental to companies and force them to make strict cuts. In 2014, Express Employment Professionals did a survey of more than 1,200 business owners and HR professionals asking them if the minimum wage was increased to $10.10 would they let employees go, reduce future hiring, or raise prices for goods and services. When it came to letting employees go, eighty one percent said that they would not fire them. Sixty one percent of employers said that they would not reduce future hiring. Lastly, forty nine percent said they wouldn’t raise prices for goods and services. This survey shows that companies may not have to make the strict and harsh cuts that would be detrimental to their businesses.