7 of 54

No

Write now Article Tools

Minimum wage will never be a "fair" wage, because it will never be based on the value of the work completed. Instead, it is based on an arbitrary amount set by the government in an attempt to help low-income people survive. It is a sad fact that our society does not pay employees based on work done. In reality, those who work for minimum wage probably work much harder than those who have higher salaries.

Minimum wage in today's society barely puts food on the table and a roof over the family's head. My son-in-law is an excellent example. He works long hours for minimum wage, and can barely support his family. The work he performs is very dangerous and results in frequent injuries. Shouldn't this type of work be compensated at higher than minimum wage? He works for a private company, and the only reason they pay minimum wage is because the government forces them to. Otherwise they would probably pay much less, because it would increase their profits.

Raising the minimum wage isn't fair either. When this happens, often private businesses are forced to cut employees in order to maintain their business in the black. I am not talking about businesses wanting to maintain a high profit level in this instance; I am referring to businesses that barely are profitable in the first place. Years ago my mother-in-law owned a flower shop and she was barely making ends meet. When the minimum wage went up, she had to let one of her employees go. Otherwise the business would have folded. So now we have a higher minimum wage and one more person unemployed. Some benefit, some suffer. Definitely not a fair situation.

Minimum wage is a no-win scenario no matter how it is handled. It is not a "living wage", and increasing it merely puts more people into poverty. Better to focus on reducing prices so that people don't need as much income to live reasonably well. Lower prices would equate to more buying power, and a much more fair existence for people.

Another option would be to pay based on work done. The harder, more dangerous jobs should pay more money than the easy at-the-top jobs do. Then there might be no need for a minimum wage at all.

Learn more about this author, Rebecca Dyson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Minimum wage: Is it fair??
We want to hear your view. Write now!