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Minimum Wage Should Be Raised

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“No person can maximize the American Dream on the minimum wage” (Benjamin Todd Jealous). In 1938, minimum wage was created by the federal government in order to protect workers by ensuring a minimum of twenty-five cents per hour worked. Though President Roosevelt had the right idea in protecting the workforce, something needs to be done to ensure that Americans are getting a reasonable amount of money for the amount of hours they have worked. As Benjamin Todd Jealous stated, minimum wage is not enough for the average American to live on. Although many would argue against increasing minimum wage due to the possibility of heightening prices and intensifying competition, I believe minimum wage should be raised in order to stimulate the economy and create more job opportunities.

Though many people, including myself, believe that the minimum wage should be increased, 1 in 5 Americans support the decision to leave federal minimum wage at $7.25. Those who support the current minimum wage argue that, instead of creating more opportunity for jobs, raising minimum wage will cause layoffs to skyrocket, thus increasing unemployment. For example, when weighing the pros and cons of raising minimum wage, Chad Halvorson, CEO and founder of When I Work, states, “If an employer has a tight compensation budget and the minimum wage is raised, it means they can no longer compensate the same number of employees at a higher rate and must make layoffs to remain within budget” (Chad Halvorson).

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