Minimum Wage Issue 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.

Over that time, the value of a minimum-wage income has fallen nearly 10 percent due to rising prices. Yet this decline is small in comparison to the drop in value of the minimum wage over the past four decades. After rising in line with economy-wide productivity in the three decades following its inception in 1938, the federal minimum wage has been raised so inadequately and so infrequently since the late 1960s that today’s minimum-wage workers make roughly 25 percent less in inflation-adjusted terms than their counterparts 45 years ago.” The raise of past minimum wage was to help people that lived during that time frame. For example the crash in 2009 had a bad effect on America and its economy, which is when the minimum wage was

The Los Angeles City Council has enacted the raising of the minimum wage for hotels with 300 or more rooms to $15.37 starting July 1, 2015. The idea is that this will create jobs and will increase the standard of living for employees. The positive effects can include a raise for current hotel employees, and will increase the standard of living for hotel employees. However, I feel that the reality is that this will kill jobs, increase hotel prices, and lead to people leaving the state and city. This is part of a current trend to raise the minimum wage from $9.00 to $15.00 per hour on behalf of labor unions and other activists. The Mayor of Los Angeles Eric Garcetti has enacted into law to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 per hour by 2020.

One of the most talked about subjects in the U.S economy is the topic of minimum wage. With president Obama’s increase in the minimum wage to 10.10$ per hour people, both economists and politicians alike, have been debating whether raising the bar is a smart idea. At a time when the country the country’s inflation continues to rise at a steady pace and Americans are constantly working to feed their families, some economists know that a raise in the minimum wage would help elevate some of the difficulty. The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was in July of 2009, where rose from 6.55$ to 7.25$. However, there are plenty of reasons as to why the wage should be raised. Some may not think it, but raising the

In 1938, President Roosevelt introduced the Federal minimum wage and started it at 25-cent. On July 24, 2009, the federal minimum wage rose to $7.25 per hour and have not increased after the update. Today, the federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 per hour until Congress agrees to raise the amount. The increase of the federal minimum wage will cause problems such as harming small businesses, punishing low-skilled workers, increasing the cost of consumer goods and services, and forcing companies to lay off some employees. Noam Scheiber’s “Higher Minimum Wage May Have Losers” New York Times article explains the consequences of increasing the federal minimum wage and its risky tradeoff.

The seemingly logical idea to raise the minimum wage as a method to increase income in impoverished households is good in theory, however this idea actually harms the exact demographic that it is intended to help. The theory claims that paying higher wages would allow workers to earn more money and raise above the poverty line (Sherk). The side effects of this action make it

Minimum wage always seems like a topic of conversation in the media. As of now, the current set minimum wage has been claimed as not being a livable wage, therefore there has been an outcry to raise it. However, we cannot turn a blind eye to what that may do to our economy. While raising the minimum wage can have a beneficial effects of providing a livable wage, reducing the need for dependent of poverty-focused government resources, and may even reduce crime, there can be many hidden problems that crop up through the woodwork that can undermine this improvement.

There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the benefits for an increase, then the disadvantages, and in the last paragraph, I will

Minimum wage is one of the biggest issues facing American society today. The government has been involved in the minimum wage of workers for more than a hundred years, so government and people have debated about what should be the minimum wage that would advantage the economy and society in total. But unfortunately, after a long time arguing about this problem nothing change and the American worker and breadwinner are still struggling with their income, so the big problem for the American society at present is the minimum wage that needs to be resolved and not forgiven, as the community is now witnessing. However the United States of America is the most powerful country in the world, but which has not respected people’s social issues for

Hosted by Intelligence squared debates, two teams argued the motion of abolishing the minimum wage. Each team had two representatives, arguing “for” were James A. Dorn and Russell Roberts; Jared Bernstein and Karen Kornbluh argued “against”. The moderator was John Donvan, he led this debate in three rounds, opening statements, Q&A with the audience/ arguments, and closing statements. Before the debate began, Donvan took a poll from the audience to gauge their initial opinion. The pre-debate poll shows 21% of the audience is for, 58% is against, and 21% are undecided. Both sides agreed on a few points; for one , we need to improve our education system (K-12) in order to improve our human capital. If we invest in education, more people come

Living a life without issues is like living a life without water. It is simply a life that is nearly impossible. That being said, it is fair to say that all humankind deals with issues of some form or another. In the midst of all the issues one encounters throughout their lives, there is one issue in particular that always seems to make national headlines. The federal minimum wage paid to employees is the contentious issue which affects multitudes of people. This matter not only impacts individuals as American citizens and workers, but as students as well. As stated on the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, minimum wage is defined as the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid; specifically, a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least

Increasing the Federal Minimum wage to from $7.50 an hour to $15 an hour would be shocking to the US economic system but a proposal of an immediate increase to $10.50 an hour and three years later to $15 an hour has been suggested. (Pollin and Wicks-Lim 717) This would give the economy time to digest the increase in labor costs and

Before analyzing why $15.00 is a fair minimum wage, why should there be a federal minimum wage and why should it be raised? Even if the federal minimum wage is low, at least it can prevent people from getting even more unfairly underpaid, and these low-wage workers will spend the money they earned, which will assist in circulating the money around. Therefore, a federal minimum wage is needed. In the 2014 State of Union address, President Obama stated that the federal minimum wage today was not keeping up with the rising costs of basic necessities for working families, and it is worth less than it was in the early 1980s; therefore, he called for a raise to $10.10 (The New York Times, “State of the Union”). In fact, that is not enough. “No one

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

On July 24th, 2009, the United States of America raised the minimum wage to $7.25. However, six years later the minimum wage rage remains the same. It is time once again for the federal government to raise the minimum wage to spur the economy. Raising the minimum wage would help the American economy and the daily life of the citizens for a variety of reasons. The first topic is that it not only would help the people but it also would help the economy as a whole. The second topic is that companies are already raising the minimum wage because of the lack of money workers get. Finally the third supporting idea is that the states are also raising it over the federal minimum wage and also how can help poverty. There are many more topics on why the minimum wage should be raised but these reasons are the most important.