Should the government raise the federal minimum wage?

Eliminate minimum wage

Eliminate the minimum wage at all levels.

Delete the federal minimum wage

remove any and all minimum wage laws on state and federal levels it has been proven they do nothing but add inflation and make the poverty line go up not down as it is intended to do.

Government should never tell a private enterprise what a job is worth.

no Mandated Wage.

Our problem isn't the minimum wages, whether it goes up or down or stays the same doesn't matter.

The minimum wage should be re-evaluated at least every two years to keep it in line with the current cost-of-living

yes there should be an increase to federal minimum wage. The number of people working for minimum wage, are stuck in a position, where the business they work under are crunching every penny including the welfare of their employees to see a larger profit, qualities fade, work ethic will fade and these business will eventually fail and fall under their own waste they provide as a "service" to us.

Federal minimum wage should increase in sync with inflation.

Government should eliminate the minimum age and instead offer anyone who wants a job employment at $10.00/hr. Direct job creation is the only way to achieve full employment and price stability

Get rid of the minimum wage

The Federal Minimum Wage should be adjusted for inflation every four years

No, they should instate a maximum wage.

The federal minimum wage should be tied to the Consumer Price Index and adjusted each year accordingly.

Setting a floor for wages to fall is good in theory, but if it is too aggressive it can destroy business/industry and thus kill the jobs the people need in the first place

It should be lowered and not tied to inflation. These are entry level jobs and provide work experience to the inexperienced

Yes, drastically increase the federal minimum wage and fix it to increase/decrease on the same percentage as the top 1% make during the same fiscal year.

Stop taxing income and instead of enforcing minimum wage promote it.

The federal government should continue to reevaluate the minimum wage at regular intervals, increasing it to compensate for inflation and average increases in the cost of living nationwide.

Minimum wage needs to go up while the cost of living should stay the same.

Completely get rid of the federal minimum wage

abolish minimum wage

The minimum wage discriminates against low skilled job seekers, another way social engineering has backfired.

The minimum wage should be kept at a level that protects a person's purchasing power.

Establish a living wage for full-time, adult employees, but allow states to give a certain number of exemptions so that companies can hire youth at a lower rate than a living wage.

Keep the minimum wage at 7.25 but stop inflation that allows for companies to continue to get exaggerated profits while continuing to undermine the effectiveness of a minimum wage raise.

Progressive minimum wage (as the person at the top makes more so should the workers at the bottom)

One rate cannot answer the needs of people all over the country. Local control may be better with federal oversight. No person who works a full time job should go without heating, housing, food or transportation.

Better to ditch minimum wage, but provide citizens an education stipend to cover tuition plus about 800$ a month in living expenses. Conditional on grades, full time commitment, and on acquiring the skills necessary for a specific job with a current market rate over $12/hr. Don't dictate what the job is worth, but offer an incentive for potential employees such that the private sector has to offer more money to compete. Pay for it by cutting military funding.

The minimum wage should be pegged to inflation.

The minimum wage should be tied in some way to the compensation that Congress members receive (have minimum wage be a specific fraction of congressional salaries for example). This way, if congress wishes to raise their own salaries, minimum wage across the board will be raised as well.

Institute a living wage. Which would be based on the price of necessities. It would be substantially higher than the current minimum 'poverty' wage.

increase the wage, decrease the cost of living.

It depends on what other policies are in place to help improve living standards and growth for majority.

It doesn't matter. Raising the minimum wage will only drive up cost of living.

If they would fix the other issues a person could live on $7.25 but at current rates that is impossible. Again plug the leak and build a new dam!!

Keep the minimum, but allow states to decide if they feel that it should be higher or not (but not lower)

We should establish a living wage for workers who are adult age and/or living on their own.

No, it should be lowered.

Raise based on CPI.

The government should periodically raise minimum wage to reflect the cost of living raises each year.

Abolish minimum wages. Individuals should compete for raises.

Tie minimum wage to inflation.

Eventually, but now is not the right time.

Depending on the state of the economy and inflation rates, the minimum wage should mildly vary.

Government should never tell a private enterprise what a job is worth. However, there must be some regulation to insure that employees are treated fairly.

Minimum wage should be evaluated every year, based on the requirements of living for a single individual working 30 hours per week. Given the state of things, full time work is rare. By increasing the wage to livable on a single job, more jobs are opened because people will not require two or more jobs to survive.

Minimum wage should be increased as the cost of living increases.

The minimum wage should be indexed to keep up with inflation.

The minimum wage should be two-tiered, with a minimum wage for students still in high school that should be left alone and a minimum wage for adults, which should be raised.

Too many people want a minimum wage to be a "living" wage. That is not what minimum wage is for. Raising minimum wages make it harder for small businesses to survive past infancy.

Accounting for inflation since 1972 when wages were 'frozen', the minimum wage out to be approximately $15./hour.

Adjust minimum wage based on inflation and cost of living.

Keep minimum wage as is, but increase spending on healthcare, and provide free higher education to everyone.

don't know enough

Tie minimum wage to inflation

Lower it.

Government needs to stop messing with the minimum wage. It hurts small business and does not allow as many young Americans to enter the work force to start gaining experience.

no opinion

Adjust the minimum wage based on the cost of living

States should abide by the limit of the federal wage, however, if cost of living is more in that state than the national average, then it that state/city/county should have a higher minimum wage.

The federal minimum wage should be reviewed annually and adjusted for inflation.

Raise minimum wage to at least $20 per hour

There should not be a "Minimum wage" at all, it creates an artificial starting point for any compensation scale.

The government should do more to close the wealth disparity between rich and poor, as well as reduce the number of working poor. Raising the minimum wage is a good start.

Minimum wage should be based on "living wage" and adjusted accordingly.

Index it to inflation.

It should be increased to a living wage that adjusts with inflation.

It should be base on the current cost of living.

No. it isn't the government’s job to ensure hourly wages. We have unions for that.

we need to go back to silver and gold!!!

Living wage standard should be used along with R&D subsidies to automate and eliminate jobs which can be supported at these wage levels.

Eliminate the minimum wage.

Raise as needed

No, lower the minimum wage to a reasonable wage that still creates an affordable living.

Let busimess decide.

Every time the minimum wage is raised, the minimum prices we pay go up and employers have to lower the number of employees it can sustain. Continued inflation of the Minimum Wage is Unsustainable.

Minimum Wage should be 0 dollars an hour, otherwise there's no incentive to get a better job.

Slave state.

Federally mandated living wage.

kill the poor

Establish a maximum wage and redirect the surplus to the people who do the work.

There should be a two-tiered minimum wage. One for teenagers, and one for adults.

Raise minimum wage and add a maximum wage.

Do not raise minimum wage. Fix inflation instead so that $7.25 per hour is actually a living wage.

Fix inflation in order to make minimum wage livable.

Yes, the Federal minimum wage should be adjusted by the CPI every few years to keep up with inflation.

The equilibrium market wage is much higher than the minimum wage. Therefore, the minimum wage should be eliminated, with greater abilities for employees and employers to negotiate wages in an effective manner.

The minimum wage should always be at a minimum level that can sufficiently sustain a person

Eliminate minimum wage requirements

Government should be more concerned with creating jobs, not with compensation for imaginary ones.

Should be raised in congruence with inflation.

It should be adjusted to the reflect the cost of living in some way. Teenagers, summer jobs, etc. should somehow be in a different class than unskilled or newly arrived immigrants who are trying to support a family.

Minimum wage should be re-evaluated every two years to keep up with CPI rises

Lower the minimum wage. Companies will be able to afford more jobs for younger Americans

there should be no minimum wage, the workers should be paid for the work they put in, the more the person works the more they get paid. minimum wage means that someone can just show up, not do anything, and still get paid as some one who works hard.

adjust minimum wage annually according to a key economic indicator

No opinion

The government should impose a mandatory wage ratio stating that the highest paid employee of a company may not be paid more than ten times the lowest paid employee.