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Is Minimum Wage A Good Idea?

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Rowson Man
Student Id: 100524350
EC451 Research Methodology for Applied Economics
Final Paper

Is Minimum Wage a good idea?

Introduction / Thesis Statement:
Minimum wage is the lowest or minimum compensation for workers by their employers. As such, it has a noticeable impact on the economy through various channels including standard of living, business efficiency, wage and income inequality, etc. Although minimum wage has many positive effects such as increasing the standard of living as well as reducing inequality, there are also many drawbacks to having a minimum wage such as inflation and unemployment. This paper will attempt to determine the influence of having a regulated minimum wage has on the economy.

Supporting Evidence 1: Wage Inequality Minimum wage establishes the minimum cost of a worker as compensation for service or work performed. An increase in the minimum wage raises the relative price of less skilled labour, those who may be earning minimum wage and therefore directly affected by the increase. The increase in the price of less skilled labour may lead to a rise in the demand for more skilled labour (Stewart, 2012), those not directly affected by an increase in minimum wage resulting in spillover. Despite this, overall the minimum wage has grown faster than the median. (Stewart, 2012) This indicates that although an increase in the minimum wage directly increases those at the lower end, and indirectly those at the upper end, overall the disparity is

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