Preparing for Minimum Wage
What's your stance on Minimum Wage?
Are you getting ready to earn minimum wage?
This is not a gotcha question. According to many reports, people who have low skills, or lack the necessary education, may face a life of constant struggle to survive in the United States. According the U.S. Department of Labor, 1.7 million workers age 16 and over were paid minimum wage, as of December 2013, this sits at $7.25 an hour. On January 1st, 2014, it was raised to $8 per hour (source) in New York State.
Here's how the numbers brake down:
This is not a gotcha question. According to many reports, people who have low skills, or lack the necessary education, may face a life of constant struggle to survive in the United States. According the U.S. Department of Labor, 1.7 million workers age 16 and over were paid minimum wage, as of December 2013, this sits at $7.25 an hour. On January 1st, 2014, it was raised to $8 per hour (source) in New York State.
Here's how the numbers brake down:
- Roughly half of those earning minimum wage in the U.S. tend to be young people of age 25 or younger (see this table)
- African Americans are more likely to earn minimum wage, but the difference between White or Hispanic is only 1%
- Americans without a high school diploma are more likely to earn minimum wage
- Never married workers are more likely to earn minimum wage
- Service jobs (jobs where a person performs a service for a salary - healthcare, waitress, home attendant, maintenance, etc) are more likely to earn minimum wage (see this table)
- The Hospitality sector (jobs which involves preparing food, serving, storing, etc) have the most amount of workers earning at or below minimum wage (see this table)
How much do you want to earn?
Click on the graph to the left. The graphs shows the earning potential of an American worker based on his or her education level.
How do you read this graph? Look at the red and green bars, and the numbers and percents next to them. According to the graph, the less education you have, the more likely you are to earn less, and the chances of you being unemployed (fired, replaced or laid-off) increases.
Where do you want to be? How much you want to earn? Well, that depends on your education level.
How do you read this graph? Look at the red and green bars, and the numbers and percents next to them. According to the graph, the less education you have, the more likely you are to earn less, and the chances of you being unemployed (fired, replaced or laid-off) increases.
Where do you want to be? How much you want to earn? Well, that depends on your education level.
Minimum Wage as seen by others...
Average age of those earning minimum wage.
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How many hours would you need to work to buy a Big Mac?
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Average work hours for a minimum wage earner.
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Which gender is often the minimum wage earner?
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Is this true?
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Would you increase the minimum wage and why?
Would YOU increase the minimum wage? If you were a business owner, how would that impact you and your employees?
Before you answer yes or no, you need to understand what is Minimum wage and how it would impact you.
Below you will find online resources of web articles, and videos, discussing the positive and negative effects of increasing the minimum wage. You need to do conduct some research before you can take a stand on this topic, either Pro or Con.
Before you answer yes or no, you need to understand what is Minimum wage and how it would impact you.
Below you will find online resources of web articles, and videos, discussing the positive and negative effects of increasing the minimum wage. You need to do conduct some research before you can take a stand on this topic, either Pro or Con.
The Resources - Online Research
Videos y articulos en español sobre el salario minimo en Estados Unidos
Estos articulos discuten el tema del salario minimo que afecta a miles de personas en los Estados Unidos. Lea y use la informacion para hacer su reporte.
-- El salario mínimo de EEUU comparado con otros países
-- Obama aumenta salario mínimo a 10.10 dólares por hora
-- Los hispanos son el colectivo con los sueldos más bajos de Estados Unidos
-- Hispanos siguen ganando menos en Estados Unidos
-- Latinos tienen mayor desempleo y menores salarios en Estados Unidos, refleja informe
-- El salario mínimo de EEUU comparado con otros países
-- Obama aumenta salario mínimo a 10.10 dólares por hora
-- Los hispanos son el colectivo con los sueldos más bajos de Estados Unidos
-- Hispanos siguen ganando menos en Estados Unidos
-- Latinos tienen mayor desempleo y menores salarios en Estados Unidos, refleja informe
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Presenting Your Argument - Two Parts + Extra Credit
This project involves you presenting your view point on Minimum Wage. Do you believe the United States needs to raise the minimum wage? And if so, to how much. Simply saying, "No" or "Yes" is not enough. You need to explain your answer; why you agree or disagree, and to what amount you think it should be raised to.
Your presentation requires TWO parts and an optional Extra Credit. Part 1 is done in MS PowerPoint and Part 2 is filling out a ledger based on YOUR actual family monthly expenses. The information will be used, for you, to determine if it's possible to live on Minimum Wage with an average family expenditures. Extra Credit is a visual presentation: as a Photoshop poster, a 60 second video with sound, a 8" x 10" collage, an 200-300 word essay, two poems, or another idea (ask to see if it's acceptable).
Your presentation requires TWO parts and an optional Extra Credit. Part 1 is done in MS PowerPoint and Part 2 is filling out a ledger based on YOUR actual family monthly expenses. The information will be used, for you, to determine if it's possible to live on Minimum Wage with an average family expenditures. Extra Credit is a visual presentation: as a Photoshop poster, a 60 second video with sound, a 8" x 10" collage, an 200-300 word essay, two poems, or another idea (ask to see if it's acceptable).
Part 1 - MS PowerPoint Presentation
The following is the guidelines to be done in one MS PowerPoint Presentation. Mr. Muñoz has provided the template at the bottom of this list,
Slides: Each slide is worth 6.5 points. Some of the answers may be found in the above links to articles and videos.
Slides: Each slide is worth 6.5 points. Some of the answers may be found in the above links to articles and videos.
- Title of Project, Name and Class
- What is Minimum Wage? - what is the purpose for it, why did the U.S. adopt it?
- What is the History of Minimum Wage? - when did it start, how much was it, and how has it increased over the years.
- Demographics of MW - what groups of people, according to research, tend to be more likely to be on minimum wage (education level, gender, race, martial status, part of the country, etc)?
- Industry of MW - what type of industries have many of its workers on minimum wage?
- MW Benefits - what do workers in minimum wage have aside from the low wage? Medical insurance? Vacations? Pensions? Unions?
- MW Living Conditions - what similarities do you see in people who live on minimum wage only? (family, living conditions, work environment,etc)
- Opposition to MW - Why do some oppose raising the minimum wage? What do they claim? Whom do they say will be affected?
- President's Opinion - what has the President said about this issue?
- Should It be Raised? - this is your opinion. Yes or No, and explain your position.
- The Future of MW - What do you believe will happen in the near future regarding minimum wage; will it raise, or stay the same? Explain.
- Your Outlook - How would you feel if you had to work for minimum wage? Would you take that job? Why should you earn more? What would you do instead if nothing else was available? Would you be able to live on MW if you had to take care of a family?
- Your Assistance - How would you help someone who lived just on minimum wage? Is it possible to help them? Where would they go?
- Political Cartoon - Find a Political Cartoon online and describe what the cartoon is trying to convey. Why did you choose that cartoon?
- Reflection - What do you think of this project? Like it, dislike it? What did you learn? How would you improve it?
- Bibliography - Go to www.citationmachine.net and create the citations of all the online articles and/or videos you used to make your research. Use MLA format.
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Download the MS PowerPoint file (PPT)
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MS PowerPoint MW Project
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How to fill out this slide show
Use the online article and video links to gather information to fill out this MS PowerPoint slides. You may also use other types of information, but remember to record the source of it, i.e. name of video, site name, book title, magazine title, etc. |
Part 2 - Minimum Wage Living Ledger
This part involves you doing some "home research." Here, you will go home and ask your family about some of the expenses they incur, and thus are responsible for. Download the MS Excel document covering the expenses. Additionally, the ledge has some links to websites where you will have to go in order to complete the assignment. As always, ask if you need assistance.
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Download the MS Excel Ledger
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MS Excel Minimum Wage Ledger
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How to fill this ledger out
This ledger requires you to research your family's monthly expenses. In order to analyze if it's possible to support a family on minimum wage, you will need to record your family's ACTUAL expenses. This process may need several days, but it is recommended you write down the list in your notebook, fill out at home and bring it to class. |
Part 3 - Extra Credit (optional)
Want to improve your grade? Extra Credit is a visual presentation: as a Photoshop poster, a 60 second video with sound, a 8" x 10" collage, an 200-300 word essay, two poems, or another idea (ask to see if it's acceptable). The points earned here can be used for another project.
Project Rubric
This project contains TWO Parts: the MS PowerPoint presentation of the topic, and a MS Excel ledger of your family's estimated monthly expenses. Both will be evaluated according to this rubric. Please make sure you full of the requirements to earn the best grade possible,
| Category | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Requirements | All requirements are met and exceeded (Completer PowerPoint presentation and MS Excel Shopping List) | All requirements are met. | One requirement was not completely met. | More than one requirement was not completely met. |
| Sources | Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. All documented in desired format. | Source information collected for all graphics, facts and quotes. Most documented in desired format. | Source information collected for graphics, facts and quotes, but not documented in desired format. | Very little or no source information was collected. |
| Mechanics | No misspellings or grammatical errors | Three or fewer misspellings and/or mechanical errors. | Four misspellings and/or grammatical errors. | More than 4 errors in spelling or grammar. |
| Content Research Presentation | Presentation displays topic knowledge written in own words in a clear, concise manner | Presentation displays knowledge of topic, but 1-2 slides are confusing or are copied from external sources. | Presentation demonstrates limited understanding of topic. More than three slides are copied from external sources | Presentation is incomplete and/or topic is not discussed. |
| Organization | Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material. | Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed. | Content is logically organized for the most part. | There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts. |
| MS Excel Shopping List | The requirement is complete, demonstrates full understanding of topic, and the written answer is original and clear. | The requirement is met, demonstrates an understanding of requirement, and the answer written is complete, but some errors in misspelling or grammar | The requirement is incomplete, the Shopping List is complete, but the written response is missing. | The requirement is incomplete: both the list and the written are missing or incomplete. |