Why
is child poverty so high in Texas? What causes poverty? According to census
data Texas was one of two states that saw its overall poverty rate drop between
2011 and 2012. The reason why child poverty rate has grown in Texas is because of
our low unemployment rate, which has a high rate of jobs that pay minimum wage
or less. My personal experience working a minimum wage when I was 16 was good. You
don’t have many bills to pay and you don’t have to support anybody, just extra
money in your pocket. It’s much different for adults who have a spouse and kids
who they need to support and cannot find a full time job. They resort to a
minimum wage job and the income from that job or two or three is not making ends
meet. The poverty will continue to happen and increase if changes don’t come to
the unemployment rate.
How
can we fix this? What can be done? Some workers are making extreme decisions as
to walk off their jobs and demand $15an hour instead of the minimum wage or
$7.25 an hour. The measures they take are understandable, but don’t thinks that
going to ultimately work.
Texas Blog One- Child Poverty Commentary
ReplyDeleteDarius Phillips, a fellow classmate of mine, recently published a blog entitled "Blog 7". In it he described that the amount of impoverished children in this state has increased, specifically from 2000 to 2011 47 percent. Phillips suggests that the reason why Texas has so many poor children is because of its high unemployment rate, and ultimately because the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. At the very end of his post, he suggests that raising the minimum wage will not work. My question to him is...why not? The minimum wage needs desperately to be raised. It does not support the cost of living even a little bit. Just because someone has to rely on a labor job paying minimum wage does not mean they do not deserve to live. What we are seeing here in Texas is an increase in those that are uneducated with children and therefore holding minimum wage jobs. If this is the reality Texas has to adjust to, then raising their pay is the only way this state will survive in the big game of economy. A good post for sure, but I intrigue Mr. Phillips to rethink his stance on the minimum wage. Also I'm no one to talk really but use spell check next time. ;) No real big deal though, the reader still understands the message.
Late Edition: My apologies the end of my blog was a let down. I did not fully develop my thoughts. First I do agree with raising minimum wage would work and I agree with all those you disagreed with me. This is funny but I meant an individual worker going into their minimum wage job and demanding their Boss for a raise that high. That would not work, just to have their boss laughing at them, and if the worker quits he can simply replace him with someone that will work. And I know this by my personal experience working at Fast food. Our professor asked me the same thing. I cannot propose what will work to solve this tough issue. Drastic measures do need to be taken. I just wanted to be clear on that. I wished they raised the minimum wage so we would not have to worry as much about finances. As I mentioned in blog five. Thank you all
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ReplyDeleteI read about this article days ago. It does hurt every resident here in TX and maybe the whole U.S when hearing about this fact. Children are the future of the country. Having them lived in the poverty is not what we want. I'm originally a Vietnamese. Thanks to that, I had some chances to visit that country several times with my family. I think there are a lot more children living in the poverty in Vietnam and other developing countries than in the U.S. They do not even get any help from the government. It is still better here where the government has much more responsibility with children than others. If they are not sent to school, it's their parents' problem. They are living in poverty, lacking of daily foods or whatever, it's the whole country's duty. I agree that raising the minimum is not the only way we can do, and also, it's not a main issue of all when the rate of unemployment of Texas is still high. And it is even harder when the employer has been cutting off their employee's hours or having them get laid off. For example that I'm single and having a job paid $9.00 an hr. With that money in a month, I have to pay all my bills and my own living expenses. I cannot imagine that if I have children, and what will happen to them if I get laid off?!? However, taking the government's side. They are a part of taking care of children from education to healthcare. Children can live in poverty but not stick with it. They still can be educated, taken care, and provided what they need when the government has an eye on them.
ReplyDeleteLate Edition: My apologies the end of my blog was a let down. I did not fully develop my thoughts. First I do agree with raising minimum wage would work and I agree with all those you disagreed with me. This is funny but I meant an individual worker going into their minimum wage job and demanding their Boss for a raise that high. That would not work, just to have their boss laughing at them, and if the worker quits he can simply replace him with someone that will work. And I know this by my personal experience working at Fast food. Our professor asked me the same thing. I cannot propose what will work to solve this tough issue. Drastic measures do need to be taken. I just wanted to be clear on that. I wished they raised the minimum wage so we would not have to worry as much about finances. As I mentioned in blog five. Thank you all
DeleteOne of the classmate posted something very interesting in his blog stage seven. He talked about the child poverty increasing exponentially in Texas. He said that there is 47% increase in the rate of Texas children living in poverty from 2000 to 2011 while the grow rate in population is only 18%. He mentions that child poverty rate has been growing so high due to the unemployment rate. He also mentions that raising the minimum wage will not ultimately fix the poverty.
ReplyDeleteI lived in Indiana for about 2 years before I moved to Austin, Texas.
While I was in Indiana for about 2 years, I worked at Target as a cashier, earning minimum wage. I had no parents support at all at the time. I have never had experience as such and I can say that it is honestly the hardest thing I have ever done in my life so far.
First, I was not able to get the 40 hours a week as I wanted. Less hours, less money for me. I was paying the rent, cell phone bill, car insurance, etc all alone and money was a pretty desperate thing for me. Every month, I would have about maybe $100 left after I pay all the bills I need to pay. I remember thinking, if I only had a higher minimum wage.
So I guess I disagree with the classmate that raising minimum wage wouldn't work. I think it would work just fine. Also, I understand that the issue is about the child poverty, not adults. My opinion on this matter is that if parents are not financially well to grow a kid, why have one? I think everyone has a general idea on how expensive it is to have a child.
Late Edition: My apologies the end of my blog was a let down. I did not fully develop my thoughts. First I do agree with raising minimum wage would work and I agree with all those you disagreed with me. This is funny but I meant an individual worker going into their minimum wage job and demanding their Boss for a raise that high. That would not work, just to have their boss laughing at them, and if the worker quits he can simply replace him with someone that will work. And I know this by my personal experience working at Fast food. Our professor asked me the same thing. I cannot propose what will work to solve this tough issue. Drastic measures do need to be taken. I just wanted to be clear on that. I wished they raised the minimum wage so we would not have to worry as much about finances. As I mentioned in blog five. Thank you all
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