Minimum Wage Laws

“A 15 percent increase in the minimum wage nationwide would destroy about 290,000 to 590,000 young people's jobs, and about 400,000 to 800,000 jobs overall” (Henderson, David R). Due to the Fair labor Standards act, the federal minimum wage, or the lowest you can pay an employee for work, currently stands at $7.25 an hour. Although a number of Americans think that raising the minimum wage would benefit our country, it would actually bring a number of problems to our economy, such as a rise in job loss and high school dropout.

There are a lot of people around the world who struggle with money and a satisfactory way of life. Whether they be in the United States or across the globe, there is a standard minimum wage set for the working class of their country. In the Unites States, there is a federal minimum wage of seven dollars and twenty five cents per hour worked. Almost every state has another set minimum wage, which typically is a little higher than the federal minimum wage, but it cannot be lower than seven dollars and twenty five cents. Countries set minimum wage laws, to ensure there is a basic quality of life amongst its citizens. As the minimum wage goes up in certain states, the quality of life also improves. The problem with a higher minimum wage, is now people are getting paid higher for entry level jobs which are meant for teenagers and people new to the workforce. If the minimum wage keeps increasing across the country, teenagers and young adults will have a much more difficult time finding jobs.

Raising the minimum wage is a very important public policy issue. Raising the minimum wage is a responsible policy that is supported by research and demanded by the American public. Each day, minimum wage workers across the country struggle to make ends meet and provide a decent life for their kids (Scott & Perez, 2016). Raising the minimum wage is a controversial issue, many believe that raising the minimum wage would only provide low wage workers more money to spend. However, the benefits can be endless for low wage workers. If minimum wage is increased across the United States it would afford the people effected more opportunities for financial freedom. Increasing the minimum wage would raise the standard of living for low wage workers, allow families to be removed from poverty, allow for government welfare spending to be reduced and lastly additional income being spent would positively affect the economy.

Even though having a minimum wage helps in many ways and keeps a minimum to what people can work for, it also can do some harm. The minimum wage law does cost the economy thousands of jobs. The essential principle of economics is supply and demand and the minimum wage aspect goes hand in hand with it. In the sense of labor, this means the amount of workers increases and wages increase, and the demand for employees by employers’ decreases as the wage increases. For instance, if an office cleaning job was publicized for hiring. If the wage was $90 per hour, many people would be interested in taking the job. However, if the income was $2 per hour, there most likely wouldn't be anyone to want the job. On the contrary, if the government obligated the owner to pay at least $9 per

The controversy over minimum wage has been ongoing. However, as explained in a Time article by Chris Lu on the subject, now is the prime time to raise the federal minimum wage. “Three out of four Americans support an increase; the economy is healthy; and many employers are already raising wages.” It’s reasonable to be worried about the consequences that raising the minimum wage might have in a time of crisis or unrest, but this quote mentions a healthy economy that would be able to handle the shifts in wages if things went south temporarily. Another argument made by opposers of raising the minimum is that businesses will be unable to survive. On the contrary, a good business will find it beneficial. “‘It’s a simple, but critical, concept: take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.’ For &pizza, higher wages reduce employee turnover, increase productivity and improve customer service.” Rather than hurting the economy, raising the minimum wage will help workers, business owners and the economy itself. A higher wage for all is

Peebles goes on to state that he operates on very thin margins, so every time the minimum wage increases, he has to pass it on to his customers. “I realize it’s hard for somebody to live on minimum wage,” he said. But the minimum wage jobs are good for some segments of the work force, including high school and college students and stay-at-home moms looking for extra income (qtd. in Beyerlein and McCall). This may be true for a small segment of workers, but a parent earning minimum wage does not make enough to stay out of poverty. The minimum wage jobs pay such meager wages, it is impossible to save even a couple hundred dollars to help make the transition to a better paying job

The federal minimum wage law was signed in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to keep people out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power. This has done the opposite by hurting businesses and reducing employment, while minimum wages go up, so will the costs of living. Most of the people working for minimum wage are 16 between 24 years old, 37% of workers are going to school working part time. Enrollment tuition has increased over the years, and raising the minimum wage could mean further increasing expenses. But, for people who aren 't pursuing an education and begin working right out of school, the federal minimum wage $7.25 looks like it can be hard to live on. Raising the minimum wage would most likely increase with the cost of living, making cost of living or tuition even more expensive, making it harder to pay for groceries or bills. Just because someone starts out at a minimum wage job, doesn 't mean they can 't progress through the company and earn a better wage over the years. Minimum wages are more for entry level paying jobs that don 't require any certain set of skills to be able to do what they ask. Maintaining the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 will help stop rise of inflation.

We all need money. We need it to buy food or to pay for bills in adult life. It is a necessity for us to survive in this world. The minimum wage law was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. These laws require employers to pay an employee nothing less than a set amount . The first wage set was 25 cents per hour, and recently in 2009 to $7.25. Congress only raises the minimum wage when the economy is healthy, mainly when there is low unemployment (Sherk). Ultimately they should not increase the federal minimum wage. It hurts the less fortunate, it keeps people below the poverty line and creates unemployment.

People in society must work in order to make a living, whether they have a highly skilled job, such as nursing or even lower skilled job such as working at fast food restaurant, they all must work to sustain themselves and their family. Many people who work in these low skilled jobs, get paid much less than the higher skilled jobs, however there are laws to protect these unskilled works, such as minimum wage. Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage that an employer can pay its employees, preventing employees being exploited by their employers. Changing the minimum wage has positive and negative effects for both the workers, and businesses which makes raising minimum wage controversial.

There are 156. 4 million people in the US workforce, however 5.2% of those are unemployed. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour; however, each state has its own laws regarding minimum wage and the amount can be higher or lower than the federal minimum, but the employee receives the higher of the two (2015). A higher minimum wage means that employers are less apt to hire someone. Some experts explain this by saying that if an employer values the job at a lower wage per hour than the minimum wage set by the government, then the employer is less likely to hire someone to fill that role. The employer only wants to hire someone when that person will be able to generate some sort of value for the company and positively affect the bottom line. Another problem with a high minimum wage is that potential employees are less likely to want to work if they are able to receive unemployment benefits from the government that will almost equal that which they would receive from working a minimum wage job (Gillikin).

Minimum wage is the least amount of money that an employer is legally required to pay an employee. It is something that all people in the American workforce know about. It was made to prevent the employer from taking advantage of employees. It is what creates the bare minimum standard of living for the 73.9 million hourly wage workers in the United States. However, there are many different jobs with varying amount of skills that are needed for those jobs. This is where the problem arises because a worker may still be under paid for the job that they do. This problem splits the population into two main groups, one that wants the minimum wage to be raised and another that wants the minimum wage to remain the same, or to even be abolished.

Raising the minimum wage can hurt many people in different aspects of business. Increasing the minimum wage will cause businesses to lay off employees. Matt Zwolinski stated “By increasing the cost of labor, they reduce the demand for it” (3). This essentially means that those who are increasing the minimum wage are also creating unemployment. The increase in lay offs causes the unemployment rate to skyrocket (“Should” 1). Joseph Sabia and Richard Burkhauser estimated that about 1.3 million jobs would be eliminated if the federal minimum wage was increased to $9.50 per hour (“Four” 1). Raising the minimum wage would cause many small, local shops to close their doors. Even many big fast food companies would have to close their doors because they would not be able to pay their employees (“Should” 2). Seattle, being the first US city to raise the minimum wage, has received a lot of attention. A study found that there were many jobs lost due to this wage

Minimum wage is the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid (1). Americans have been debating raising minimum wage for years. The people that want the raise in pay believe that it will help workers who are not as qualified and need a salary they can support themselves on. The people who do not want the raise realize the damaging effects it will have on this country. These jobs do not require a great amount of skill so having a low pay is understandable. Minimum wage jobs were not created for people to support themselves and a family with. Raising minimum wage would hurt Americans more than help them because in the end prices of goods will increase and people will lose their jobs.

In this essay I will be discussing minimum wage legislation and minimum wage. I will be defining minimum wage and explains what minimum wage legislation is. This essay will be answering question like what is the minimum wage law, and why was it made a law in the U.S. or what minimum wage pay rate would I like to see as the minimum wage rate. I also will be discussing the reason why fast food workers are seeking a higher minimum wage. I will be using the book compensation by Milkovich and the internet to apply facts and answers to this paper.

The most prevalent and steadfast myth surrounding the raising of the federal minimum wage is that it will doom the economy. This might seem logical at first, but just think about it for a second. Why do minimum wage employees need more cash? The answer is simple: To spend it, to buy the things that they and their families need to survive. “Most minimum wage workers need this income to make ends meet and spend it quickly, boosting the economy. Research indicates that for every $1 added to the minimum wage, low-wage worker households spent an additional $2,800 the following year” (Fair). Furthermore, EPI estimates that if the federal minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour, it would result in over