POVERTY AND WAGES

She may be struggling more than you and I could ever imagine.

For the sake of this week's class session, I think it's most appropriate to update the Why? What is being done? and What should be done?
Why??
This week's session was immensely helpful in explaining the reasons why many people remain in poverty. Just for clarification, I would like to remind you all that poverty does not mean someone is homeless or unemployed. A person in poverty can be a full-time worker and continue to remain there, because of low wages. While reading through notes, I was dumb-founded to realize that there were two types of minimum wage; State and Federal. Prior to this point, I was under the impression that everyone with a job was making at least $7.25/hour (with the exception of tipped workers). The Georgia minimum wage is still at $5.15/hr which is $2.10 lower than the federal minimum wage. This means that thousands of full-time Georgia employees are working their tails off for approximately $10,000/ year. Ten-thousand dollars per year will barely cover rent of a $900/month apartment, so how does the government of georgia expect individuals to survive?? Although Georgia's minimum wage is embarrassing, the situation for tip workers is even more deplorable. As an ex-waitress of a fairly decent restaurant, I know first hand how bad things can get when business is slow around the restaurant. Relying on tips to complement the hefty $2.13/hour wage of tip workers is not a reliable way of making money. The fact that a great deal of georgians are being forced to work two or three jobs just to make ends meet is not acceptable in my opinion. Let's look at it this way, after a single mother of two finishes her two shifts per day, how much time is she going to be able to spend with her children reading, cooking meals, or just spending quality time?? I would be entirely surprised if she gets to see them for 30 minutes each day before bed time; and we wonder why children are dropping out of school, selling drugs, and stealing. Low wages keep the cycle of poverty going, but if wages were increased by a few dollars I would bet my bottom dollar that poverty would decrease along with the percentage of illicit activities. It's just a thought.

What is being done? and What should be done?
Unfortunately, many employees of Georgia are still fighting for the state government to raise its minimum wage at least $2.10/hour. This would allow Georgia's minimum wage to rise to $7.25/hour which would award a full-time employee with a whopping wage of $14,000/year. Although $14,000/year isn't nearly enough money to take care of basic expenses, it's a little better than making $10,000/year. If this does happen, people might actually make a little slot labeled 'Food' in their monthly budget (I'm being very sarcastic). There is also a Living Wage Movement that seeks to encourage the government to pass legislation so that the minimum wage will be a large enough figure that full-time workers will only need to work one job to pay for basic necessities. The ideal Living Wage Rate would be at least $10.50/ hour if health insurance was provided, and if not then $11.75/hour should suffice. This would help an individual make at least $22,000/year which would greatly decrease many of the problems associated with low-wage compensation. The effort being placed into raising minimum wage is exactly what we need. Not only would raising minimum wage stimulate the economy, but our friends and family will be able to better support themselves if they made more money. Those requiring less help from the federal government means less money out of tax-payers pockets (this is a good thing!).