Increasing the Minimum Wage Will Reduce Income Inequality Essay

Do you feel that the minimum wage is often too low in North Carolina for not only teenagers, but for adults providing for families as well. Do you think that the minimum wage should be raised a few dollars to allow citizens working on minimum wage to pay for college, save for insurance, buy food, and pay for rent? The average citizen must work hours on end to provide enough money to live sustainably. Thousands of kids live in poverty, and barely have enough food to stay nourished. These are the reasons on why we should raise the minimum wage.

Furman, Jason, and Sharon Parrot. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Viqi Wagner. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "A $7.25 Minimum Wage Would Be a Useful Step in Helping Working Families Escape Poverty." www.cbpp.org. 2007. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 9 Nov. 2015

Should the minimum wage increased to $10.10 an hour? This has increased over the years and everyone has their opinions. Those who are in favor of increasing minimum wage to $10.10 believe that more money will decrease poverty and the unemployment rate. Those who oppose the increase in the minimum wage, believe that it should not be increased and should stay the same, because it will cause businesses to close up because they are not making enough money to survive in the economy An increase in minimum wage would have to make the employees work harder to make increase sales of the business. I believe that the minimum wage should not increase to $10.10.

Should the minimum wage be raised? This question is the question being asked by millions across the United States. Most people will say yes, however, an economist will most likely say no. This is a very important subject and what the people of the United States should be compelled to notice as well as take action on the minimum wage. In the United States, 3 million people make less than the federal minimum wage. Furthermore, with over 60 million people living in the lower middle class the minimum wage is not high enough. That's why the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour because CEO's support it as well as it presents a living wage.

There are many employees who find themselves working full-time for what the government has so generously termed the “minimum wage”. In Missouri, the minimum wage has been set at a rather appalling $7.65 per hour while in other states there are wages starting as high as $10. Though arguably the economy is not as sluggish and terrible as it once was, $7.65 per hour will not help those who have children, no college degree and debts to pay. It is not only Missouri that has minimum wage laws, but every other state in America has minimum wage laws in place. Both California and Seattle recently established a plan that would see their minimum wages rise to $15 by 2021. The question for all the other forty-eight states remains, should the minimum wage be raised?

In the United States alone, the amount of people in poverty is 14.5%. That equates to 45.3 million people in 2013. In a country like America, one of the world’s superpowers, it’s embarrassing to admit. But the main issue is to fix issues like these with the minimum wage and welfare. The minimum wage applies to workers who got a job whether because they were in school or because they had not gone to college and had no other option. Most of the country lives off as minimum wage workers as only 1% of the world’s population has a college degree. Minimum wage needs to be adjusted to modern inflation. But the minimum wage allegedly does not affect poverty at all says a large demographic and does not need to be adjusted. The minimum wage makes up a lot of the country and should be adjusted or modified to today’s standard of living.

“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”

"No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty."

There’s a very simple solution to a increasing poverty level, a raise in the federal minimum wage. People who live at or below poverty level did not have the opportunity to develop job skills, build an education, or invest in financial assets. The little opportunity given to the low poverty populate is due to the absence of a low income, and how many of them could only afford a minimum wage job. If an increase of minimum wage was given, many low income workers could develop skills, that could help them progress in their career. Once these workers succeed in their career, one could hope that they will go on a earn a education, or build their financial assets. These financial assets include loans, savings accounts, and the purchasing of houses or other expensive items. An investment of these financial assets will led to an overall boost in the surrounding economy and crime rates in the area. A federal wage increase has many benefits compared to cons, these benefits include: helping the life of low income workers, who make up most of America, and the overall boost of the economy and the area surrounding it.

Minimum wages go all the way back to 1938, during the great depression, when the stock market crash and bank loan were failing. Families need income of some type, were they wanted to make it fair were individual could get pay the same without a college degree. I am going to start off with a little about minimum wages history and how this could help our Economic.

Income inequality has affected American citizens ever since the American Dream came to existence. The American Dream is centered around the concept of working hard and earning enough money to support a family, own a home, send children to college, and invest for retirement. Economic gains in income are one of the only possible ways to achieve enough wealth to fulfill the dream. Unfortunately, many people cannot achieve this dream due to low income. Income inequality refers to the uneven distribution of income and wealth between the social classes of American citizens. The United States has often experienced a rise in inequality as the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, increasing the unstable gap between the two classes. The

I agree with this article, written by Niels Veldhuis, to the extent that minimum wage negatively affects the economy, by increasing unemployment. However, if I were Veldhuis I would have added that the social values of minimum wage may outweigh the negative effects on the economy. This matter is a value judgement, which cannot be proved right or wrong by economics. Veldhuis supports his statement with proof from studies; I will explain these findings with further microeconomic theory. I will discuss the following to reflect upon the accuracy of his arguments: theories of producer behavior and cost minimization, market equilibrium, welfare, and the importance of value judgements.

"The minimum wage is something that F.D.R. put in place a long time ago during the Great Depression. I don't think it worked then. It didn't solve any problems then and it hasn't solved any problems in 50 years."

Currently there are many problems and flaws with the way the Canadian government’s policies deal with healthcare, income inequality and poverty. Time to time changes in policies have been made, perhaps to improve these issues, however, the gap between rich and poor keeps increasing and there is very little improvement in healthcare and the economy. In fact, healthcare keeps on becoming costly. Major issues like income inequality and poverty are not being taken care of by the government. According to Dr. Raphael (2002) poverty is caused by several reasons such as inequality in people’s income, weak social services and lack of other social supports (p.VI). He states, “Poverty directly harms the health of those with low incomes while income

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is not the answer. The various amount of unintended consequences that would come about as a result is reason enough not to support an increase. Those who support an increase contend that it will alleviate poverty. Suppose a spike in the minimum wage does reduce poverty for some workers. This development will be offset since an increase in the minimum wage will further price out inexperienced workers from the job market, resulting in an increase in unemployment and thus, poverty. This can properly be described as a catch-22 situation; no matter happens, someone will lose. When you take these negative affects into account, is an increase in the minimum wage worth it? As expounded further, no it is not.