Minimum Wage: A Policy Analysis

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

The minimum wage is not suitable for society because it is too low and due to this, employees tend to overwork with more than one job, which leads them to not be available for their families enough, and they are unable to make progress with this wage

This bill is striving to assure that minimum wage workers are making enough money to be able to financially support themselves and their families. This bill calls for the federal minimum wage to be adjusted every four years so that the received annual income of these employees is at least 15% above the federal poverty edge for a four-person

Raising minimum wage has been an ongoing issue for many years. Similar to every debatable issue, pros and cons are inevitable. In the United States, minimum wage started when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) was passed and minimum wage started at 25 cents per hour. The purpose of setting a minimum wage is to set a maximum workweek and to eliminate child labor. It is defined to be the least amount of money employers are obligated to pay their employees by law. As the years passed, the minimum wage began to increase to accommodate the growing economy. Although the wage has increased from a mere 25 cents per hour to $7.25 over the course of 75 years, living expenses are much higher causing many people to be poverty stricken (Debate.org). President Obama proposes raising the minimum wage, so that it would help minimize the income gap in America. However, most business organizations and the Republicans oppose to the idea, saying that it could potentially lead to more economic problems. While both sides have valid points, which one provides a more compelling argument? In the United States, the minimum wage should be raised in every state; therefore workers can have a more comfortable standard of living, lower the poverty line, and minimize the income gap.

The selling point that has brought people to the United States for centuries is the American dream: Prosperity, Luxury, Opportunity, and so on. Unfortunately for many, this dream has been squandered by the receding economy of an indebted country. As inflation runs rampant, the value of the U.S. dollar decreases, lowering the value of household and business incomes. This economic recession has led many, especially those who only earn the minimum wage, to poverty. According to the United States Department of Labor, “The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour” (“Wage and Hour Division”). Some people believe that a solution to this problem is to raise the minimum wage; however, doing so would ultimately result in a negative effect on the

The minimum wage debate brings about a range of reactions from different people. There are those who believe that there shouldn’t even be a minimum wage and that wages should be determined by the markets. On the other hand, we have those who vigorously argue for increasing the wage minimum citing inflation, the poverty line and worker productivity. Regardless, we do have a federal minimum wage rate in the United States at $7.25 per hour, with some states having a higher minimum wage than the federal minimum. President Obama, in his first state of the union address of his second term proposed “Tonight, let’s declare that, in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour” (The White House 2013). A year later, he has revised that number to $10.10 per hour after signing an executive order that has already raised the minimum wage for federal workers to that number. (The White House 2014). With more and more states raising their own minimum wage, a minimum wage increase seems almost imminent with Democrats and Republicans getting closer to a deal. (Bolton 2014). But we are more interested in the efficiency of a minimum wage implemented at the federal level. The main question that surrounds this debate is whether this price floor in labor markets is efficient given that the stated goal of the minimum wage is to make sure full-time workers earn a living wage and are above the poverty line.

The interest groups in this policy are minimum wage workers, businesses, politicians and the public in Seattle. The minimum wage workers would get a huge raise, from about $9 to $15, which would yield them more income and better standard of living. Politicians who pushed for this policy would gain popularity because of the political environment of Seattle. Businesses stand to take a lost in profit due to rise cost of business due to the higher minimum wage. Raising prices can is certainly one way to combat the rising cost for businesses. However, this will affect the public, who will have to pay if price is raised. Businesses might lay people off and less willing to hire new ones. This will hurt current workers and potential workers, because businesses must adjust to the new policy.

To analyse and draw conclusions on minimum wage in relation to its standing in business law, we first of all need to define what the meaning of the term is. National minimum wage was introduced in 1998 through the national minimum wage act. This enforced that employers would pay each employee a set value set by the government per working hour. One of the main benefits of this was that the most low skills jobs within society received a fair wage. Setting the price of minimum wage is a complex task as the main priority is to reduce the negative effect on the labour market, creating benefits outweighing the costs. Inflation and minimum wage have a very close relationship, with inflation being the annual increase in the price of goods and services. As inflation rises, it is natural for minimum wage to follow at a similar rate. In october 2014, minimum wage increased 3%, whereas inflation increased 2%. This shows an improvement in the real term income for over 1,000,000 of the lowest paid workers in Britain.

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.

A huge controversy has been raised by the rise and fall of the set rates for minimum wage within many states in the US. Many people believe that the rate should be raised and some believe that the rate should remain or even decrease. If the minimum wage rate was heightened, then there would be more high school dropouts, prices would heighten, and fewer people would have jobs.

Mar'keldrick Keys I think that Waffle Now servers should be paid the higher federal minimum wage for non-tipped employees. I believe the wage will help the servers provide for their family more. Plus the servers rely on the tips for a part of their income. However, the non-tipped minimum wage is a livable wage. Therefore, I think that the servers should be able to know, that they can be able to provide for their family with their wage. Being able to provide for your family with a tipped minimum wage is sometimes hard. On the other hand, the minimum non-tipped wage for employees will help them provide more and have a little money from the tips. Having to rely on tips for a part of your income is outrages. People

I am sending you this letter to ask you to continue fighting for a higher minimum wage. I know that it has already been put into effect that in 2020 the minimum wage will be raised to $12.00 per hour (and $15.00 per hour in 2025), but I would like to ask you to continue to fight for this much needed federal pay raise. As of July 1, 2017 there were only 19 states that had raised their minimum wage. Raising the federal wage could help a lot of people and would even save the government money. If this raise is put into effect and stays in affect then it could help a lot of people afford food, a home,

Ontario and Alberta have both passed legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour. The minimum wage in both provinces will be increased in stages. In Alberta, the minimum wage was raised to $13.60 an hour on October 1, 2017, and it will reach $15 an hour in October 2018. In Ontario, the minimum wage will be raised to $14 an hour on January 1, 2018, and then to $15 an hour on January 1, 2019.

Meta description: The minimum wage in Ontario increased on January 1, 2018. What implications does it have for HR policy and practices in your business?

Critique: Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New Jersey and Pennsylvania