Increasing the minimum wage would cause rising prices, raise the unemployment, and hurt small business owners.
Minimum wage is an issue that affects low-income people, but yet still has a major impact on the economy for all income levels.. For example, “raising the minimum wage hurts small businesses as they have to operate on slim profit margins to stay competitive” (Danner 30). If they cannot increase the prices of their goods and services, then an increase in the minimum wage would force employers to react, by reducing workers hours, laying people off, and leaving open positions vacant instead of hiring new people. This shows, the effects job finders will face, especially teens and young adults, who are just entering the work world,
In ¨Raising Minimum Wage Increases Unemployment,” Christopher Jaarda, a writer for Gale and also an attorney with the John Hancock committee, claims that there is a correlation between minimum wage hikes and unemployment. Christopher states many different times where the government has raised the minimum wage and then, as a result, the unemployment has gone up substantially. In the chart, there is a clear correlation all these years that they have raised it. Out of 5 different times that they changed the minimum wage every time the unemployment way up with it except for 1996. It did go up, but not that much like the others. The most recent increase was in 2007. The unemployment before the raise was 4.6% and then after its unemployment peaked
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.
With the minimum wage set at $7.25 dollars per hour many people are struggling to make do. The average cost of living in America is too much for people, who make minimum wage, to make ends meet. It’s thought that raising the minimum wage will have a negative effect on the unemployment rate but there has been no evidence of that. The value of the minimum wage has dropped immensely since 1960. Raising the minimum wage will be beneficial to America and its citizens. In 1968 the minimum wage was equal to $10.74 today. That means in 50 years the purchasing power of the minimum wage has diminished. From the end of WWII upto 1968 minimum wage was on pace with the average worker productivity rate. If this trend was true from 1968 to today and worker
As the cost of living is raising every day, it is really important to raise minimum wage as well. Through the years, there have been questions about this topic, but no changes have been made. Some people do not realize the importance of minimum wage or even its history. It is a real struggle for many people because they are living in poor conditions making around $200 a week. That is a real struggle for those trying to provide for their family. They have a really hard time trying to make it till the end of the month. They are afraid and worried at the same time because they cannot pay their bills in time or even go to the doctor if they get sick. Increasing the minimum federal wage could make a difference for those living in unfortunate conditions.
Who knew that minimum wage could save the world and the people in it? The last time minimum wage was raised on July 24, 2009, and that when it rose from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, How have we been living on $7.25 this long? We haven't been living on it we were trying to survive and a lot of people can’t survive on a minimum wage that low. Raising minimum wage to an amount that could actually let people live comfortably would help the economy and a lot of people who struggle in this economy. This is not all that can help but raising the minimum wage can be the start of a lot of problems that deal with job growth, reducing child neglect, and poverty.
Raising minimum wage would lead to an increase in demand and a lowering of supply. The price of goods would increase, along with the services. The shortage of jobs would increase the poverty rate and crime rate.
In addition to raising wages and establishing safer working conditions, enforcing unionization nationwide can also can also create better benefits for the working population. Unions have played a major role in regulating overtime pay and minimum wage. Recently, activists and labor unions have been fighting for minimum wage to rise to 15 dollars. Raising minimum wage would lower the poverty rate in the United States. In a study conducted in 2013 by the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, “economist Arindrajit Dube, PhD, estimated that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 is ‘projected to reduce the number of non-elderly living in poverty by around 4.6 million’” (Should). Under the Social Security Act of 1935, unemployment insurance (UI)
There has always been a mentality in the United States when it came to providing for yourself or others, and it’s that if you want to live a better lifestyle then you have to work for it. Ever since the industrial revolution that was the idea the United States were known for, the American dream. The opportunity of working hard enough so you can have a better life is the reason why so many people migrated to the United States. So many of them learned it was pretty hard to accomplish that goal while earning so little and working in dangerous jobs with little to no restrictions. Many immigrants lived in horrible conditions because of this and it wasn't until the government started putting restrictions and regulations on how little you can pay
The first minimum wage law was imposed in New Zealand in 1894; since then other countries have followed. Forty-four years later, the United States enacted The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 which set the United States minimum wage to $0.25 for workers who were covered. Since 1938, as the standard of living increases in the country, the minimum wage has been “raised 22 separate times–most recently, in July 2009, to $7.25 an hour” (Center for Poverty Research UC Davis; 2018), where it currently remains. Although there is a federal minimum wage, states and cities are allowed to set floor rates higher than the federal rate. Minnesota’s minimum wage is currently $7.87 but Minneapolis recently decided to raise their minimum wage to $15.
According to Gallup, a surprising seventy-four percent of Americans are in favor of an increase on the issue of the federal minimum wage, points out Eliza Gray from Time magazine (Gray 39). Liberals strongly believe “that people who work full-time should not live in poverty” (Dreier 86). America’s working poor and the economy can be better off if the minimum wage increases.
Some that oppose raising the federal minimum wage would insist that individuals in specific fields lack experience and skill for such a large wage and that many businesses would have to lay off employees that would result in producing with minimum labor because these businesses cannot afford wage increases. I believe raising the minimum wage would expand overall economic activity generating more jobs and more monetary flow by increasing both supply and demand. If minimum wage was increased, the economizing problem would be slightly reduced and more money back into the market increasing demand and needing more human labor resources to produce a larger supply to fulfill the demand.
Raising wages would affect the individual worker by improving their lives and standard of living. Macroeconomics is the part of economics concerned with large scale or general economic factors, such as interest rates and national productivity. A twenty five percent raise in minimum wage, would increase gross domestic product and spur the economy. Increasing the minimum wage by 25%, to nine dollars, will improve the lives of many Americans/the standard of living, and spur economic growth. Economist Jared Bernstein who is the economic adviser for vice President Joe Biden says,” An increase is not a luxury or 'beer money' anymore. There are too many people who depend on a low-wage job to meet their family budget that this increase is needed, not
I think a better alternative to minimum wage for low to moderate income families is to expand the earned income tax credit (EITC). I believe this would be more beneficial because eligibility is based on total income of the family and factors in their number of children rather than being based off an individuals income. I think that if EITC increased and wage subsidies increased it would promote business, create jobs, and encourage employers to raise wages. Another solution would be to give small businesses tax reductions giving the owners incentive to higher more employees and counteract job loss that raising minimum wage brings. An alternative to rent control is subsidized housing for low-income families. It is available to those making
Bigger is better! While this statement can be true it isn’t always, in the case of minimum wage this is far from the truth. The proposal for raising minimum wage to $15 is not the solution. This would cause inflation, create unemployment, and raising minimum wage will have a very small impact on poverty. A true solution is to revert our economy back to the barter system.
The minimum wage is a topic which has been heavily discussed amongst the people of the United Kingdom. Some think it should be lowered, some think it is at the right amount and others think it should be increased. I was shocked when I found out what the minimum wage was as I thought how could anyone live on such a little amount. I thought how could anyone afford to pay all of their bills and everything else on top of that like food and clothes. But then I looked into it more and I realised that the minimum wage is at that amount for a reason, these reasons are ones which I agree with.