Why Minimum Wage should be Raised

The United Nations has revealed seventeen goals designed to make the world more sustainable for humans. Hunger, poverty, and clean water- are other issues that are also focused on by the United Nations, but one that is also of great importance, that many people do not often speak about, is decent work and economic growth. In many developing countries, agriculture is found to be the main industry that the citizens are a part of, and agriculture does not generate enough revenue for a country to meet the economic growth that many developed countries have reached. Agriculture does not generate enough economic growth because the industry does not yield a high profit margin, since agriculture is a necessity, and cannot charge more money than what people can spend, which is often not plentiful. But developed or rapidly developing countries have large service industries. The service industry does have a high margin of profit because people generally have more money to spend in countries with large service industries. But also, the industry is not a necessity, and can be charged high amounts of money, which is justified by the larger GDP per capita that these countries usually have.

To help further develop poor countries, the United Nations have made it their mission to improve jobs all over the world and make them decent. Decent work can be achieved by giving people easier access to jobs, quality jobs, dignity, higher wages, and gender equality. (International Labour Organization) This can be achieved by numerous factors such as labor regulations. In the United States, specifically along the Appalachian Mountains, there has been a long history of mining coal, which is very dangerous and can be fatal. Along with danger for coal miners, coal is also very polluting for the country. Because of this, the United Nations has created a set of clean energy guidelines that countries may modify if they see fit, called the Paris Climate Accord.

President Trump has arranged a withdraw from the deal, stating that many jobs would have been killed. Many of his supporters agree because most of the states that he won, like Ohio, Michigan, and Wisconsin, which are traditionally blue, do not have other jobs available, which is a problem. The United States has invested in clean energy which creates jobs seventeen times faster than any other industry. (Lant) Jobs like these tend to be safer because they do not require going hundreds of feet underground where vision is often limited, and where there is a high chance of suffocation and other injuries. Another problem with jobs, is wage.

Wages often determines who will work for a job. Jobs that are more labor intensive are often more available to the poor, but do not pay the correct wages. Since this is the case, many local government officials have advocated for a minimum wage increase in their areas. Seattle was one of the first cities to increase their minimum wage to fifteen dollars per hour. Another way that the government could help increase wages, is by bringing back jobs from places like China and Mexico, which President Trump has done. When there are more jobs available, then they create competition, which later results in higher wages.

Another issue is that there is gender equality, especially with jobs in STEM. One way that STEM is bringing more women into the program is by creating the “Idea Incubator,” which would bring many talented women, and have them create new ideas for real world problems. (Forbes) Special scholarships are also given by the car company, Audi, through the STEM program. We can all help to ensure that every human being is entitled to having a safe, good-paying, and decent job. And if we all follow the United Nations’s guidelines, then we can all achieve that goal.

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