The Effects of a Higher Minimum Wage When I was eleven my parents told me they couldn't afford to buy me new school clothes that year. So, in my desperation for new school clothes, I started working. I did odd jobs on farms for family and friends, as well as babysitting. I worked all summer of my freshman year of high school and continued to work every summer until my senior year of high school, when I started working full time. I started helping pay my parents' rent when I was thirteen and bought most of my own food when I was young. I bought all my cars and I'm paying for my schooling. So you might ask yourself "why were we so poor? Was it because you had deadbeat parents? Didn't they work full time? What? Why were you so poor?" Well, my father; even though he was a hard working man, he worked a dead end job and my mother couldn't get a full time job until she was thirteen, and neither of us made a lot of money. Now I always thought that if the government raised the minimum wage it would help my parents. However, I later found out that the problem wasn't in the amount of money my parents earned. The problem was the amount of debt my parents had and the lack of experience for other job opportunities. Now, although my parents are much better off today, I myself learned to avoid these problems at a young age and, by the grace of God, am able to support my wife and two children on $11.94 an hour. There are millions of people in America who are in the same situation I was in at age eleven. Many people pray every day for the government to raise the federal minimum wage. However, the U.S. economy would take a hit if Congress decides to raise the federal minimum wage. If the worker... in the center of the paper... intable Krueger A. (1995) Raising the minimum wage does not reduce employment. Retrieved September 9, 2007, from Ridenour, A. (2007) Minimum wage hike kills jobs, but Congress doesn't seem to care. Retrieved October 12, 2007, from http://www.nationalcenter.org/2007/01/raising-minimum-wage-kills-jobs-but.htmlSaxton, (1996) Distribution of workers affected by the proposed $5.15 minimum wage . Retrieved October 10, 2007, Website: http://www.house.gov/jec/cost-gov/regs/minimum/against/fig-2.gif Sherk, J. (2007, January 8). Raise the minimum wage. The Backgrounder, 1-3.Wilson, M. (1999). Raising the minimum wage is counterproductive. San Diego: Greenhaven Press.