According to Barack Obama, the current minimum wage of $7.25/hr or $290/week is absolutely not enough to survive on for any of the 1.7 million Americans that earn that wage. So, he's pushing for a fair, liveable, $9 an hour; or, a weekly income of $360. But, what Obama isn't telling you is that 2 million people, or 300,000 more than those making minimum wage, work for less than that, and, raising it won't help those people one iota.
Then, there's the issue of Obama's call to renew the extended unemployment benefits for the 1.3 million Americans who saw their benefits expire just after Christmas. Their average income was $300/week or just $10 more than a minimum wage worker. Are they, too, like the current minimum wage earners, getting too little money to survive? Of course, extending the unemployment benefits isn't going to help the 8 million of the 11 million workers who are officially unemployed and receiving zero benefits. Nor will it help another 9 million workers who have left the workforce because they are frustrated and cannot find a job.
But, the real irony in all these discussions about wages is that you're probably better off being on welfare than either collecting unemployment or even working for minimum wage. That's because, in a majority of states, 35 states to be exact, welfare recipients collect the equivalent of $400 a week or higher. How's that for income inequality, Mr. Obama!
References
Seeking Alpha: Extended Unemployment Benefits Statistics: http://seekingalpha.com/news/1484551-Over-1M-affected-as-extended-unemployment-benefits-expire
Forbes Magazine: Welfare pays more than the minimum wage: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2013/09/02/on-labor-day-2013-welfare-pays-more-than-minimum-wage-work-in-35-states/
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Minimum Wage and Lower Income Wage Earner Stats: http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012.htm
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