Minimum Wage: Article 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

The minimum wage is one of the most controversial issues on our country, which is United States has been facing last ten years. There have been never ending debates over this issue until the government, company, and others party stand together, and raise the minimum wage throughout the nations. There are communities that believe raise the minimum wage has negative impact of every sector of the country. Other communities have different beliefs over the issue, raising the minimum wage helps the poor people, and would help not hurt our economy.

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

Raising the minimum wage federally is a big challenge for the United States to overcome. There are different perspectives across the people on whether the minimum wage is fair. A state reserves the power to adjust the minimum wage within the state. Raising the minimum wage in a state like California to fifteen dollars an hour would be great. Increasing the minimum wage will promote economic growth. I agree raising the minimum wage is the fairest way to help low wage workers, but disagree it is the most economically efficient way.

For example, many people believe that it would act as an economic stimulus for the country. If the minimum wage were to increase, that would allow for people to have more money, and in turn they would spend more money at businesses, boosting the nations economy.20 However, it would also benefit the government by decreasing the amount of people enrolled in government programs such as Medicaid and food stamps.21 As stated in an article published in Congressional Digest, “The President’s plan strengthens the middle class by making America a magnet for jobs, equipping every American with the skills they need to do those jobs, and ensuring hard work leads to a decent living,”22 this, directly relating to a statement the President made in his State

The minimum tipped wage should be raised. There are many reasons that an incease is due. The tipped minimum wage has been the same since 1991. And yet, the cost of living continues to rise. It has risen by 75% in the past 27 years due to inflation.

In fact, in the article “$15 minimum wage coming to New York, Calif.”, by John Bacon, it states “The increase will boost the wages of about 6.5 million California residents, or 43% of the state’s workforce, who earn less than $15, according to worker group Fight for $15”. What this shows is how a high number of residents will be awarded a higher pay. However,

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.

Most people have witnessed firsthand driving through a densely populated city and glancing out the window to see camps set up on the streets for people who cannot afford living quarters. These poor citizens are living like this because they either do not earn enough money annually to keep a home and use what they have on a source of food. Increasing federal wage to $10.25 would help these poor American citizens and the children in America as well.

Minimum wage should be lowered for the purpose of getting people who just got hired for a job comfortable with the job and being responsible for what they are doing. Especially for teenagers, who may be getting their first career jobs and are not sure what they are really doing. A teenager who just got their first job should not be getting the same amount of money than someone who has had a job their whole life and may be working harder than the other. Minimum wage should be lowered so small businesses do not have to pay so much money to the employees which could cause the business to close down due to a loss of money. If minimum wage was lowered than more jobs would open up for people since the business would not have to pay a lot of money

Secondly, minimum wage jobs and how the media portrays them in society. According to Kendall society views the working class as historical relics and jokes, not treating the working poor and working class as any better than the poor or homeless on how the media represents them. People think that the working class is the caricature framing which

Early studies of the effects of minimum wage increases were rather simplistic, focusing solely on the U.S. national minimum wage. These studies found that among young adults aged 16-24, the elasticity for labor was between -0.1 and -0.2, which means that a 10-20% increase would decrease employment among young adults by 1%. This would mean that if the minimum wage was increased in 20% increments from $7.25, what it is currently, to $15, what some candidates plan to change it to, young adult employment would drop by approximately 4%. Another study done by Neumark and Wascher (2007) found that two-thirds of minimum wage studies and 85% of persuasive studies found consistent evidence of job losses among low skilled workers

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.

A portion of jobs affected by a minimum wage hike will inevitably go to robots instead of humans. Instead of hiring workers, businesses will invest in technology that is capable of doing tasks that would otherwise be done by human workers, such as cashiering at fast food restaurants and other establishments. In the long run, businesses that invest in technology sophisticated enough to perform these types of jobs will face lower costs than hiring actual workers. This is primarily because they will not have to be concerned about inputs such as wages and benefits given to workers and filing payroll taxes.