The minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour and has not increased since 2009. This is one of the most controversial questions in America today, should the federal minimum wage be raised, lowered or eliminated? The minimum wage, which covers 90% of American workers, should be raised. Changes to the minimum wage would benefit the economy, society and possibly lift Americans out of poverty. Since 1938 the economy has recovered considerably from the Great Depression which began in 1929 and ended in 1939.
The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 set a minimum wage for employees in the United States. Before this Act was passed there was a high unemployment rate, and employers could take advantage of desperate workers by paying extremely low wages and working them a maximum number of hours. The Fair Labor Standards Act was started in an effort to improve working conditions and raise standards of living by limiting the number of hours worked and setting a base wage that employers must pay.
Increasing the minimum wage will progress the economy in many ways such as, increased buying power, faster rates of job growth, and decreasing the need for taxpayer-funded assistance. When consumers have more on-hand cash to spend, they are able to spend money on retail goods and services. Greater demand and sales for these businesses is likely to cause the need for more workers over time. Studies done by Paul Sonn and Yannet Lathrop show that in a majority of instances an increase in the federal
Raise the minimum wage: In the United States, studies show that women tend to make up a disproportionate share of low-wage workers. In the field of education, men tends to go more to STEM than women and that also leads to high paying jobs for men. If we raise the minimum wage, this will help hardworking women to support their families. Approximately, women made up two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers in 2012. With the current federal minimum wage i.e. $7.25 per hour, someone working full time, only earn $15,080 a year round. People working full time with minimum wage is still below the poverty threshold for any family with children and single person is also not far above the poverty line. So, increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would help increase the wages for about 15 million women, which will help close the gender wage gap.
There is a lot of controversy over whether the minimum wage should be increased to 15$ an hour in all states. Proponents say that current wages in America are not livable because inflation is way higher than the current minimum wage; Minimum wage was 1.60 in 1968, which is equal to 11.60 today. Opponents say that many cannot afford this, will have to close down, make cuts, raise prices and lay off people because they will need to pay them more. Most economists believe that that high of an increase would hurt job growth. I believe that Increasing the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide will do more harm than good. Raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide is too big of a jump and would just cause businesses to cut off workers, force small businesses to close and increase inflation.
The issue of the minimum wage has recently come to the forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss of available jobs. Small businesses maintain that it would spell their doom.
To begin, increasing minimum wage would increase economic activity. With an increase of $1.75 hourly, it has been predicted that there would be increase of aggregate household spending to $48 billion the next year (Aaronson). This increase would boost the United States GDP and lead to job growth, which proves that higher minimum wage equates to higher economic activity. In addition, it has also been found that raising minimum wage would would benefit
According to Huffington Post there are millions of Americans living in poverty. Our current inflation rate from 1913-2013 have not mirrored the pace of wage increases. Because of this the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was introduced. In society today the worker’s pay doesn’t keep up with our current inflation rate. But with the Fair Labor Standard Act everything changed. This act brought the everyday low wage earner out of poverty and stimulated the Gross Domestic Product. Now, why
On July 24th, 2009, the United States of America raised the minimum wage to $7.25. However, six years later the minimum wage rage remains the same. It is time once again for the federal government to raise the minimum wage to spur the economy. Raising the minimum wage would help the American economy and the daily life of the citizens for a variety of reasons. The first topic is that it not only would help the people but it also would help the economy as a whole. The second topic is that companies are already raising the minimum wage because of the lack of money workers get. Finally the third supporting idea is that the states are also raising it over the federal minimum wage and also how can help poverty. There are many more topics on why the minimum wage should be raised but these reasons are the most important.
By raising the minimum wage some people will no longer live below the poverty line, the amount of consumer spending will increase and more people will be in better health.
Raising the minimum wage would establish 85,000 new jobs and would also increase amass household spending by $48 billion the following year (“Should the Federal”). There are no signals shown that a boost in the minimum wage would lower employment. Even though people argue that the authors found “Little or no evidence of negative association
America is a place where the people strive to create equal opportunities in every avenue of life. Every American should have unrestricted access to the options presented before them, allowing them to pursue their life goals and die happy deaths. However, this principle only stands for access to options, it has nothing to do with the advantages and disadvantages of said choices. The American dream is the idea that if you work hard enough, persevere, and really believe in yourself, good things will come. Drastically raising the minimum wage goes against all of those principles, rewarding lethargic actions and poor life choices. Raising the minimum wage to $15 will do more harm than good for middle class americans by decreasing the value of the money in their pockets, driving out big companies, and generally increasing unemployment.
Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage an employee can be paid from their employer. The federal minimum wage is set at seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour in the state of Mississippi. Some states have chosen to raise their minimum wage higher than federal requires. San Francisco, CA, has the highest minimum wage fixed at ten dollars and fifty-five cents. Even though, some states have a higher minimum wage than others. The Fair Labor Standards Act entails every employee to be paid the same amount. If minimum wage was to be raised, it would have advantages and disadvantages.
Working is supposed to help people get out of poverty, not live in it. People deserve to get rewarded for their hard work and should be paid to live a better life. But with the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, it is hard for workers to even pay for their necessities. Minimum wage should be raised to help workers feed themselves and to take care of their families with their wages. It will also help boost the economy, finish inequality and the poverty from this society.
It's still a relatively new topic, minimum wage. Introduced in 1938, by President Franklin Roosevelt, it was a part of the creation of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This act established “minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers.”(United States Department of Labor). At the present time of 1938, 25¢was quite a significant amount of money. However, now, the federal minimum wage has been set at $7.25 by President Obama in 2009. Within the past seventy years, many states have desired to raise their own minimum wage higher than that of the federal minimum. Presently, twenty-nine states have elected to pay their workers more rather than giving them the short-end of the stick.
A very controversial yet interesting issue today in the United States is minimum wage if it should be increased or not. While some want to raise minimum wage to the living wage, minimum wage should not be raised because it increases low skilled worker unemployment, increases the Cost of goods/services,and Cuts back on work hours.
During the 2008 Global Recession, the employment rate for young adults and low skilled workers disproportionately, and once the recession had eased the employment gap based on education worsened significantly. In 2016 Presidential election raising the minimum wage became a key policy issue for the Democratic Party to help give those workers who were hit the hardest during the recession a much needed income boost. During the 2016 Democratic National Convention the Democrats agreed to add a $15 minimum wage into the party’s platform, taking a pivotal step sought by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and labor Unions. When it comes to raising the minimum wage and what it would do to U.S. employment, prices and productivity. Economists are willing
Minimum wage has long been a topic that has brought on many heated debates. It has been said over and over again that minimum wage should be raised. These people say that raising minimum wage only does good for people. However, I, along with many other people, believe this is wrong, and we should instead be making moves to keep minimum wage where it is. Raising minimum wage may provide some positive effects, but those positives only go on to be overwhelmed by the negative effects caused by it. Wages should not be raised because if done so, employment would drop and companies would need to spend and earn more money.