Persuasive Essay On How To Increase The Economy

To begin, there is an extensive debate over whether if the U.S were to raise minimum wage, could it really help the working poor of low income families. Nancy Cook, in her article from the National Journal, “Why a Minimum-Wage Hike Can’t Help the Poor”, she points out that two thirds of around 100 surveys from 2007 had a negative effect and that it does more for the middle class than the lower one. (p.14). So, therefore, from her

Jason Furman and Parrot Sharon explain why raising minimum wage will help families. The wage has to be elevated to just the point where a family can actually afford all the necessities they need in order to survive. The cost of living in houses for poor people makes it difficult for them to afford it and is difficult to stay on task with all the bills. Many minimum wage workers have families to support. The cost of raising children is very expensive. It is an average of $7,100 per year. Minimum wage workers can barely afford to pay child care for one child, let alone two. Increasing minimum wage will also make life easier to those who have food stamps and child care needs. Which can also help them get into college a lot faster so they can go out and pursue a better paying job.

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.

According to the American Enterprise Institute, it is stated by president Obama that increasing the minimum wage: “would alleviate poverty”. The president is certainly correct, this wouldn't help everyone. As the information given: only 11.3% of the people will get beneficiated by this raise. Why this? People who don’t work are the ones in poverty; and because firing some its workers, there will be more poverty than there was before. And if the case is that a company keeps their employees… the people

Right now,according to Victoria Smith,over 40 million people are living in poverty. This could be changed if they were able to get enough money from their jobs, but the minimum wage isn’t high enough right now. Even if only by a little, if minimum wage were raised, the amount of people living in poverty could be reduced by at least 5 million according to Mike Konczal . Originally, the minimum wage was at only .25 cents an hour. Due to causes such as inflation, this wage has been raised to meet the current standard. Although interest in raising the wage has gone away until recently. Minimum wage should be increased because it would increase job growth and economic activity,it would reduce government spending on welfare, and reduce poverty.

The first reason why the Untied States should increase minimum wage is to reduce poverty rates. An anti-poverty tool is simply whether employers would employ fewer workers if they had to pay higher wages. Which I believe is wrong because since they would be increasing minimum wage then the employers will be making more money, which then opens up more employment options. In addition, if employers are paying more, they will want to hire more experienced or more educated workers. But, this is why we would increase minimum wage so that more people can afford to go to school and finish their education so that they will be able to receive those jobs. Also, between 1998 and 2004 retail employment rose more than three times faster in states with minimum wage above the

"In fact, data from CPS suggests that the majority of poor families with heads of household of prime working age simply don’t work, so a minimum wage has no impact on these families." (Durden). The correlation between minimum wage and low-income families is weak. There are alternatives that could be more economically efficient for low-income families. It would be a delusion to think that raising the minimum wage would be the most economically efficient way to help low-income families.

Raising the minimum wage has multiple benefits. As an increase to minimum wage moves families above the poverty threshold, their need for public assistance decreases. As wages increase, a family’s purchasing power increases for

Raising minimum wage 10% would reduce the amount of poverty by 2.4% ( Konzal, Mike. ) The raise of minimum wage may be able to pull 4.6 million people out of poverty. Although there are 45 million people in poverty, pulling 4.6 million out is a good start. With raising minimum wage there are possibilities of it boosting workers incomes by 10% which is an increase of $1,700. A raise like this is a big boost to people's quality of life and living conditions. Having high paying jobs for workers would pull about 900,000 americans out of poverty and raise the income of 16.5 million workers all around the US. While raising minimum wage has some positive outcomes there is more possibility for negative outcome. Positive effects like poverty rates possibly dropping are great but not enough money can be made. Workers income will be raised because of the wage raise but it is not good enough. If firms pay more they are going to look for less workers because of the raise or resort to other ways of work. A raise in minimum wage has opportunities to pull people out of poverty and raise incomes of people but it is not 't enough. ( Khimm, Suzy. )

The economic effects of raising the minimum wage can be damaging, but I believe the benefits of it outweigh the negatives. Those who tend to live on the minimum wage - fast food workers, retail employees, ext. - tend to spend most to all of their income. By raising their wage, they are able to 1. spend more and 2. possibly invest more. This would have a ripple effect throughout the entire economy - leading to raises for everyone. It is

Did you know that the Federal minimum wage for employees has been $7.25 since June of 2009? In modern society, poverty and inflation are common substantial problems. Many people think increasing the minimum wage will corrupt businesses and employers by forcing them to make cost cuts and increasing inflation, while others think it will reduce poverty and inflation by increasing individuals income. For instance, according to the Los Angeles Times, Lissette Rowe, a 30 year old psychology student from Georgia, earns $7.25 an hour, making subs for a sandwich chain, but she still relies on her family to help pay her bills, provide food stamps, and money for her basic housing needs. By increasing the federal minimum wage it can help Americans afford basic needs without having to struggle through life.

Contrary to these beliefs, I believe that raising the minimum wage will not only benefit the company and employee immensely, but overall increase the productivity of workers. The raising of the minimum wage will help these low income families support their families, which decreases the poverty level too.

Raising the pay of one’s workers is proven to increase productivity in the workplace: Worker productivity increased 104% while the minimum wage rose 101% between 1947 and 1973 (Henderson). Common sense also plays a role here. If you were being paid a penny an hour when you really deserve a quarter an hour, would you work your hardest? Would you begin your work enthusiastically at full-throttle? No, you wouldn’t, and the second you saw a better opportunity at another place of employment, you would jump to it. Why should you feel loyal towards a job or company which does not pay you enough to live? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers.

As stated by Ramirez, et al., “...there is no statistical significance between minimum wage and poverty rate.” From an international standpoint, Gindling also repeats this in terms of developing countries using similar reasoning. Poverty, however, while still a major issue within the United States, may be easier to fight here due to the laws keeping most people non-exempt from the minimum wage. Additionally, poverty is not the main target of a minimum wage increase; rather, a minimum wage increase allows for upward mobility among those who are struggling now, which over generations can resolve poverty.

Moving along the list of advantages, increasing the minimum wage will also increase the amount of money workers have, which, in turn, will inspire them to increase their consumption and pump their extra money into the economy. If workers have more money going into their pockets from increased wages, the income effect comes into play, and provides an incentive to go out into the market and buy goods and services. In an article printed by The New York Times, it was also pointed out that raising the minimum wage would decrease labor turnover. This is because if workers are paid more, they have less incentive to leave their current job and seek a higher paying job.