Corey Pedersen

312 Jenna Dr. Verona, WI 53593 Phone: 608 695 9332

E-Mail: coreyped@gmail.com
Date: 14.05.14
Dear Honorable Senator:

Recently, as you certainly already know, Congress brought to attention the idea of raising minimum wage
to $10.10. When minimum wage was first passed in 1938 it was $0.25 ($4.13 relative value). In 1950 it was up
to todays minimum wage: $0.75 ($7.25 relative value) and in 1968 minimum wage was at its peak of $1.60
($10.71 relative value) but 20 years later it fell to $3.35 ($6.60 relative value). Now, in 2014, it is at $7.25.
Quite a few people believe that minimum wage shouldnt be raised because when it was high in the past it
fell shortly after. But other people believe that it should be raised. Many large businesses do not have an
opinion in this matter because they already pay higher than minimum wage but a lot of the smaller
businesses, such as landscaping, florist, etc., are against this because they want to have the freedom of
paying their employees how much they want and based on their performance. I think that the minimum
wage is too low and needs to be raised to at least $10.10 an hour for full time employees.

Right now a full time job, working 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year at minimum wage earns $15,080 per
year. That is only $3,410 above the poverty line for a single adult. Let me take you through a day in the life
of Jim. He is a young adult, having already finished college; he is just starting to get on his feet. He is paying
$665 a month for housing and utilities and spending about $185 on food per month. He spends $35 a
month on clothes, $140 a month on gas and a cell phone bill averages out to be $36 a month. This leaves
Jim with $2,080 extra a year; and this is not including income taxes, car insurance, possible car payments,
student loans, medical insurance, renter insurance and what else he would need to purchase. Thats not
very much money to live off of. If he were to want to buy a new car at $20,000 he would have to save all
his spare money for 10 years at least. If minimum wage was raised to $10.10 per hour people could be
getting up to $5,000 more per year. Now he would only need as few as 4 years to purchase his car. This
would benefit the US greatly because if someone is earning more money then they can spend a lot on
merchandise and, as we know, the government gets a certain percent of all money spent so this could
significantly help the country to get out of debt. Raising minimum wage would bring 2.8 percent of the
people above the poverty line, which would bring 900,000 people out of poverty. Over half the families
that work at fast food franchises are enrolled in one [or more] public assistance program. This costs our
country over $7 billion every year.

Now the disadvantages to raising minimum wage are that there would be many job losses. Many people
dont need minimum wage raised; they just need jobs. Raising minimum wage would make it harder for


2
small companies that employ low-wage workers. They would either have to raise prices or cut jobs. But
economic demands can prevent them from being able to raise prices. If minimum wage was raised up to
$10.10 Nonpartisan government economists estimate that there could be as many as 1,000,000 job losses.
While many organizations and companies have decided to strongly voice their opinion others have taken a
more soft-spoken approach. For example, Fox Business spokesman John Stossel took a hard-spoken
standing by saying, We cannot legislate prosperity. When we increase minimum wages by legislative fiat,
we kill jobs. Government creates nothing but what it has first taken away. While other organizations such
as N.A.T.S.O. [National Association of Truck Stop Operators (www.natso.com)] have stated, in a calmer a
way, that they arent going give their position on this matter, but on their website it asks their members to
say that "Higher labor costs without any anticipated increase in revenue or profits put significant pressure
on businesses that operate under slim margins." If there is to be no raise in profits this could lead to higher
levels of unemployment. This is why I think full time employees should get paid $10.10 an hour.

People are afraid of job losses so there is an easy solution, separate payments. If you are working a full
time job you should get paid $10.10 an hour. But of you are working a part time job you should be paid
$8.50. This would allow those, which are completely dependent on one job, to get a paid an amount on
which they can survive. But those that are just working for a few extra dollars, like teenagers would get
paid a little less so that there are fewer job losses and people that are completely dependent on one job
could keep their job. Anna Thompson, a policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project, says,
Raising minimum wage would help working families and power economic recovery. If the minimum wage
was raised things might start costing more but we would now have the money to pay for it, this would
help close the gap between the rich and the poor. If this happened we would be set on the road to a
strong economy. Not only would raising minimum wage help people get the money they need but it would
also strengthen the economy in a significant way. So all that needs to be done is to gradually raise the
minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Sincerely,
Corey Pedersen







3


Bibliography
"Consumer Spending Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. Web. 05 June 2014.
"Consumer Spending Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. Web. 05 June 2014.
"Minimum Wage since 1938." CNNMoney. Cable News Network. Web. 05 June 2014.
"MinimumWage.com." MinimumWagecom. Web. 05 June 2014.
States, United, Department Of, Agriculture, and Center For Nutrition. Official USDA Food Plans: Cost of Food at Home at Four Levels, U.S. Average, February 20141.
Web.
US News. U.S.News & World Report. Web. 04 June 2014.
"Raising the Minimum Wage: Old Shibboleths, New Evidence." Economix Raising the Minimum Wage Old Shibboleths New Evidence Comments. Web. 06 June
2014.