Living Wage In America Essay

In America, the public majority tends to believe that poor people deserve to be in poverty as they are lazy. In reality, the nation’s poor work full-time, sometimes over fifty hours a week, yet still do not earn enough to escape the depths of poverty. Minimum wage is what these individuals earn, as deemed appropriate from the low skill level of the jobs they work. Often the level of incomes received are not made to be living wages and are found to be product of unreasonable systems. Making a living wage in America is unlike the textbook definitions since there are various standards of living within each state that dictate the level. As a result including, an ever-growing population of consumer workers, deskilled jobs, and irrationality caused from McDonaldization, countless individuals, specifically: the uneducated, Blacks, Latinos, and young adults, fall into a class of “working poor”.
A living wage is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. The basic needs in this case are: housing, food, medical, transportation, and taxes. The living wage in America is dependent on location rather than a general level. Some state governments enact ordinances that set the minimum wage higher than the federal minimum. However, the state level ordinances do not meet the different standards of living from city to city. What is
The four characteristics of McDonaldization are: Efficiency, Calculability, Predictability, and Control. Efficiency is the key characteristic as it will determine the profit margin. Increased profits are gained by lowering costs. And the labor of workers are the chief cost to a company. To maintain efficiency in this manner, many companies deskill jobs. The product being a low-wage position that can be filled by anyone. Obviously, McDonaldization creates the “working poor” singlehandedly in only one