Argumentative Essay On Minimum Wage

Before people push a minimum wage increase, they need to be totally aware of all of the positive and negative results and consequences that might occur as a result. The issue concerning what to do about the minimum wage has served as an ongoing controversy amongst several people. The federal minimum wage should not be raised for several reasons including the harmful effect on small businesses, the increase of poverty, and the augmentation of competition for jobs.

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

Furthermore, expert economist James Galbraith says “Working families would have more time for community life, including politics; Americans would start to reclaim the middle-class political organization that they once had” (Aurbeck). Galbraith believes that the lower class will make a major impact on politics and society when they are given a larger role to participate in. The most significant part that will result from an increased minimum wage will be a major transformation in the way the lower class lives. As of right now “The Walmart heirs alone have more wealth than the bottom 40% of Americans combined” (Reich). The lack of currency that is generated from the lower class is a major problem that is being faced throughout the country.

Where to set the minimum wage has been a huge debate topic for years. The smallest increase or decrease can have a large overall impact on the economy. Do you think the minimum wage in California should be raised to $15 an hour? This is a question many in my home state are currently asking. California’s current wage is $9/hr., and the federal government is raising it to $10/hr. in January 2016. It may seem like common sense that if you have a higher minimum wage, then there will be less poverty. This is what I first thought when looking at this issue. However, Holtz-Eakin observed that a vast majority of minimum wage workers are in fact not living in poverty (Deutsch). Many minimum wage workers are not living under the poverty line, but simply

One of the greatest challenges minimum wage workers are having today is being able to life off of it. Having a family to look after while earning minimum wage is very hard. Jon Corzine (n.d.), an American financial executive and former politician said “No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty”. Another problem is owning a car while earning minimum wage. This is a problem because it costs a lot of money to maintain a car so you can keep using it. Also, gas prices have gone up which means paying more to use your car and, according to Bill Pascrell (n.d.), “Today a minimum wage earner has to work a day and a half just to pay for a tank of gas. That is simply shameful”. Another thing we should look at is the impact of the economy after minimum wage increase. According to FAO, the total labour income will be increased by 1.3 per cent by 2019, but only one-quarter of the labour income will help low-income families. Also, it will increase payroll cost for Ontario Businesses which will cause low income workers to lose their jobs (Financial Accountability Office of Ontario, 2017). Despite the fact that increasing that increasing minimum wage would force businesses to lay off employees and raise unemployment levels, minimum wage hike will have a positive outcome for low-income workers because increasing the minimum wage would reduce poverty, a higher minimum wage would reduce inequality and higher

For people that want to live off a job that pays minimum wage than you'd love the very foolish law that california has been passed to raise minimum wage to 15 dollars by 2022. Which will cause inflation and “fast food restaurants will just become gateway jobs to start better professions” most workers will be replaced by machines. And for people that are on a salary they don't benefit from this because they have a set wages.

A higher minimum wage means a better life for many Americans who have had struggles finding the right career for them. Barack Obama urged Congress to raise the minimum wage from 7.25 an hour to 10.10 an hour, simply by asking them: “try living on $15,000 or less a year” (source). They also estimated that “more than 28 million workers would benefit from the minimum wage increase; 19 million of them would benefit directly” (Source). This failure to raise the minimum wage also leads to a higher gap between the rich and the poor. The earnings ratio between the CEO and the worker was about 20 to 1 in 1965. Today the ratio between a CEO and a worker is 273 to 1(source). As of right now, the current poverty line is at $22,000 for a family of two adults and two children. The wages before taxes for one working parent are under $15,000 as of now(source). If the minimum wage is raised to $10.10, the wages for a working parent are now at around $20,500. With the extra money made, parents will be able to afford better food, clothing, and housing for themselves and their children. Raising the wage for minimum wage workers will also help with many people’s mental health, which could help affect the children of these workers from avoiding a future in poverty themselves. According to Ann O’Leary’s

It is currently hot topic with the upcoming presidential elections. It is also a very important topic in economics because of how it could hurt or help our ever fragile economy. It is also topic that can get very personal for people. The topic is minimum wage. I believe that increasing minimum wage would increase the worker’s quality of life, decrease tax payer’s money spent on public assistance programs, put more money back into our economy and lower the turnover rate for the effected jobs.

“You can never tell a book by it's cover”, just as Edwin Rolfe wrote, you can not tell what an article is saying just by its heading. The article I chose to write on was “Ontario’s minimum wage jumping to $15 in 2019”. This article talks about the promised plan to raise the minimum wage. I felt that the article argued both sides but was leaning towards the negatives of the promises. However, like most other articles, this one also lacked input from the people that it would affect the most, such as the small businesses, and input from several reliable experts. The author, had an excellent choice of words and made the quotes both defend and argue for both sides. Still, the argument was a little biased, and argued a bit more that these are only promised changes, and that this procedure is only to campaign, and not for the public’s benefit.

Minimum wage has caused controversy throughout history between the two parties in government, the Democrats and Republicans, debating if they should increase minimum wage or not. Minimum wage was first established during 1938 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt (Sessions). The first act to enforce employers to pay its employees is the Fair Labor Standards Act which followed the Social Security Act (Sessions). Minimum wage started as twenty-five (25) cents per hour which doesn’t seem like a lot, but it was at that time (Sessions). The United States tended to raise the minimum wage when the standard of living changed. Since 1938, two other amendments were created to increase minimum wage laws even more. By 1961, minimum wage raised to $1.15 with another increase in 1963 (wages). Since the 1963 wage change, minimum wage created a trend of increasing yearly or every other year (Wages). From 2007 to 2009 minimum wage increased each year making the current minimum wage $7.25 (wages). Sine minimum wage has been established, Congress has increased minimum wage twenty-two times (22) (). Since minimum wage is supposed to change when the standard of living changes, then why hasn’t the United States government changed it since 2009?

The minimum wage has arguably become the most controversial topic regarding our economy today, as it influences one of the largest classes of people within the United States, the working class. Federally, the minimum wage has not been raised in eight years, so it has stayed at $7.25 per hour for all non-exempt workers (U.S. DoL). The opinions on this topic are typically split across a progressive-conservative line, with progressives being in favor of a raise from $7.25, and conservatives wanting to stay at the current rate. This can be seen when looking at the typical progressive stances from states and municipalities that raise the minimum wage for businesses operating within their jurisdiction, since the higher rate among all levels of

"According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report, increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to $10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25. The government should raise the minimum wage to $9.25 per hour. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest paid worker can afford their basic needs. Raising the minimum wage would strengthen the workforce and the economy.

Single mothers are 10% of workers affected by an increase but they make up only

Minimum wage is defined as a living wage; furthermore, it is a wage set by the United States Labor Law and other state and local laws, making a mandatory amount that employers have to pay their employees (“Minimum wage in the United States”). Throughout time, the standard wage has increased due to inflation and rise of living costs. When the first minimum wage law was passed in 1938, it was set at twenty-five cents per hour; in present time the minimum wage has jumped up to $7.25 an hour. Although times have changed, the minimum wage should not be enlarged anymore because it will cause inflation, the loss of jobs and an increased likelihood of high school student dropouts.