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Increasing Minimum Wage Essay

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If a society with a minimum wage were to increase the amount of that minimum wage, the results would be both negative and positive. The minimum wage was created to prevent business owners from taking advantage of employees who desperately need income. Right now, the minimum wage in the U.S. is $7.25. Small business leaders are fearful that an increase in payroll will cause their business to fail due to high production costs. Employees argue that working at a minimum wage is not enough to live comfortably, even more impossible to support a family. If the government were to increase payroll to a minimum of $15 per hour nationwide, it would cause 9 million job losses. On the plus side, business owners would see less turnovers and an increase in productivity, because people would have more spending money in their pockets, thus helping other businesses as well (Dixon, L. 2018, February 08). …show more content…

The reason for this is because most minimum wage workers are only part time, and don’t necessarily depend on their income (Richason, O. E. n.d.). Increasing income would also reduce public assistance and government transfers like Earned Income Tax Credit, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Growth, E. 2017, May 10). Unemployment among unskilled workers would increase, so educated and skilled workers will want an increase in their paycheck as well, costing companies less profit. As an example, four years ago, Seattle Washington had increased its minimum wage to $15 per hour due to a boom in the labor market. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, employees who work at the minimum wage worked less hours. In their research, they stated that worker’s hours dropped by 9% resulting in a net loss of earnings (Scheiber, N. 2017, June

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