Minimum Wage Should Be Legal

When there are millions of Americans living at or below poverty lines, something has to be done. Billion dollar companies and businesses that employ workers, paying them low wages is hurting the economy. The reality is, unless the minimum wage is raised, the cycle will only continue. With higher minimum wages in place, the entire country does better and, therefore, should be raised. There needs to be laws put place to raise the minimum wage. Doing so would boost the economy with all of the money that Americans would put into it. With higher minimum wages, millions of Americans can get out of poverty, not having to rely on the government for assistance such as food stamps, public housing, child care, and health care needs. They can afford better housing options in which they want to live. Communities would see less crimes in neighborhoods creating a safer environment. Aside from that, Americans can afford a good education, health care, as well as healthier eating and exercising habits.

Next, another problem the rise of minimum wage poses is the rise of inflation. If employers are required to pay their employees more, then they need to do something to compensate for the extra money they are losing. With this in mind, employers would have to increase the prices of goods. But sometimes raising prices is not an option for employers. “If a business cannot simply pass along its new labor costs, it must somehow absorb them—by eliminating workers rendered unproductive by the new minimum wage, by replacing labor with more-productive machines, or by cutting production” (Intorduction 2). This brings back the issue of minimum wage causing a dramatic increase in unemployment. Sherk believes it is the wrong time to increase minimum wage, due to the fact that America is currently in a recession. The right time to think about raising minimum wage would be when the unemployment rate drops drastically. Sherk states “In 2007, Congress voted to increase the minimum wage, raising it in three $0.70 increments from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The final installment represents a 10 percent increase in the cost of hiring minimum wage employees” (Sherk 1). Seemly inflation and minimum wage increases influence each other.

After the protest in New York City, the issue of raising the minimum wage has come up once again. Seattle is spearheading this cause with a proposal of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This will help minimum wage workers a great deal by increasing their income. However, there are concern that this move could hurt certain businesses, which can lead to higher unemployment and contraction of the economy. The ethical issue surfaced as this will benefit some at the expense of other.

The federal minimum wage in the United States is currently $7.25 an hour. Increasing the minimum wage would lift approximately 900,000 people out of poverty. Forty-three million Americans are living in poverty due to low income, health care costs, childcare costs, college costs, and housing costs. The federal minimum wage should be raised because it keeps up with inflation and would scale down poverty levels.

The current federal minimum wage is $7.25. The last change to this wage was in 2009, when it was raised by $2.10, from the past wage of $5.15 per hour. However, there are some different laws relating to minimum wage. One of these laws is that “workers whose

The debate over raising the minimum wage has been a hot topic ever since President Obama introduced the bill at the 2014 State of The Union Address. He intends to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, an increase of over 40%. While the President claims this idea to be beneficial to the economy, studies show otherwise.

The federal minimum wage has been debated and questioned since it was created in 1938. In 2009 the federal minimum wage was set at $7.25. Barack Obama proposed it be increased to $10.10 per hour but was unsuccessful in his attempts. The working class has declared that it currently is not a liveable amount and are fighting to have it increased to $15 with a movement called #fightfor15. Workers believe that a higher minimum wage will create more jobs and boost the economy. There are many arguments that say minimum wage should or shouldn’t be increased. A value of $15 could do more harm than good. According to research, increasing the federal minimum wage to just $10.10 would provide a livable income for workers and boost the economy.

“A nation will not survive morally or economically when so few have so much and so many have so little” (Sanders 1). One of the controversial topics in American politics today is the decision whether to increase minimum wage. Some people think raising minimum wage can only benefit them and our economy. You may be thinking nothing could be bad about having a few extra bucks in your pocket. What could be so bad about raising minimum wage? Minimum wage increasing would cause various issues in today's economy.

Raising the minimum wage increases the productivity and customer service in a business (Time, 2017). For example, a business named “&pizza” pays their employees a starting wage that is higher than minimum wage (Time, 2017). Michael Lastoria, the CEO of the business states that “It’s a simple, but critical, concept: take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.” I agree with this statement. When a business or anyone for that matters show that they appreciate your work, it only makes one want to work harder and provide the best kind of service. Everyone benefits in this situation. There are many other businesses as well that have acted to increase the work wage above the required minimum. While it may be fair or ideal to get a minimum wage increase which would also increase productivity and customer service, others would argue that it would do more damage than

There has been a growing desire for minimum wage to be set at $15 an hour. While many of our lowest pay employees will be getting paychecks, workers who have been at businesses longer feel like they’re being undermined. Employees say that it is not fair for a new worker to be earning as much as someone who has been apart of the company for three years. Also, raising minimum wage poses a financial and management challenge for employers. Numerous cities have passed wage increases in the past year, and New York and California recently approved the new wage of $15 an hour. “The Supreme Court’s decision not to take on a challenge to Seattle’s minimum wage rule removed one of the most significant legal testes of local wage laws.” Seattle has now

According to Maclay “Overall payroll costs in the state will increase by only 3.2 percent, since many businesses already pay over $15 and many workers getting a raise already earn over nine dollars, the state’s current minimum wage. Also, labor costs average one-fourth of business operating costs.” Businesses are already paying their employees a lot of money over fifteen dollars and it is not affecting it. “Three industries account for nearly half of the workers getting increases: retail, healthcare and social assistance and restaurants.” said Maclay. Increasing minimum will benefit with the living standards and help widespread with

In this globalization era, as various countries see growth in their economy, there has also been significant differences in the wages set to employees in different countries. The lowest wages set by the law that are fixed to a particular amount which is also defined to be the price floor below which workers shall not sell their labor, has its own effects. The minimum wage law came into force as a matter of social justice amongst the low-wage workers, also to reduce exploitation and see that workers can afford the standard basic living expenses and necessities, not to increase the unemployment rate, indeed to increase the employment rate.

Minimum wage bill majorly refers to a price control that is imposed by the government. The price control concept set a floor indicating what the minimum price must be paid or be imposed on certain services or goods (Murphy). The main aim of a government setting up price controls is always to ensure individuals or employers of a certain job group receive fair wages. Also, the minimum wage laws are mostly used by the federal government to ensure a basic quality of life among all the countries citizens. This aspect is to establish a fair level of economic equality instead of having copious amounts of poor or underpaid citizens (Vitez). It is further important to note that these minimum wage laws can often be used to force companies to pay equally all individual regardless of sex creed or race.

As of right now the federal minimum wage is at seven dollars and twenty-five cents per hour. Minimum wage was implemented into the U.S economy system in 1938 by president Franklin Delano Roosevelt (CNN). It began at a mere twenty-five cents per hour which is the equivalent of about four dollars and eleven cents in today’s money. Minimum wage was introduced to reduce the risk of another depression and to help lower class workers (CNN). Although the federal minimum wage is low, it should not be raised to $15.00 per hour.

According to NewsPoliticsInfo, The Debate over the minimum wage, (2103, December 9), majority of the argument is that the more people that are in the workplace, the better the economy would be because employees earning more are more likely to put the money back into making purchases and the higher wages, the more likely it will reduce the unemployment