Persuasive Essay On Increased Minimum Wage

“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.

Before people push a minimum wage increase, they need to be totally aware of all of the positive and negative results and consequences that might occur as a result. The issue concerning what to do about the minimum wage has served as an ongoing controversy amongst several people. The federal minimum wage should not be raised for several reasons including the harmful effect on small businesses, the increase of poverty, and the augmentation of competition for jobs.

The topic of raising minimum wage seems to attract a multitude of controversy. On one side, experts agree that raising a family on one minimum wage salary is almost impossible for someone who puts in fairly large work hours. Nonetheless, business owners agree that increasing these salaries will result in significantly less jobs, as well as force them to increase the prices on their consumer products. Federally, minimum wage workers earn $7.25 an hour, totaling up to $15,080 annually, with approximately six hours of working time per day. However, the price varies with state, with places like Massachusetts and Washington paying $11 to workers hourly.

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

Raising the federal minimum wage allows individuals to be able to provide for themselves and their families without the need for some type of government assistance. One report explains that families with workers only earning minimum wage rely on those workers for 59% of the families’ total earnings (Fox). Many people associate minimum wage jobs as starter jobs for high school students, but the reality is that the number of college graduates working in minimum wage jobs has more than doubled over the past five years. The majority of people who are earning minimum wage are

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

Raising minimum wage is a very controversial topic. Minimum wage became a federal law in 1938 and only it was only twenty-five cents. Today minimum wage has increased and is currently ten dollars and fifty cents. As one can see minimum wage has increased dramatically and will continue to increase. Minimum wage should not continue to increase at this rate because many businesses will be affected, the price of living will increase and it will alter the way people live. With this minimum wage is hurting more lives rather than helping them.

This is turn causes unemployment for the very jobs the new minimum wage was created for. The federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour (Calvert, Scott, and Morath). Unfortunately, there are states that have decided to raise the minimum wage. The state with the highest minimum wage at $11.00 and hour is Massachusetts (Wuttke). All states should be required to revert back to the federal minimum wage and not have the ability to raise it whatsoever. Doing this would ensure that inflation would not rise because of anything minimum wage related, lower unemployment, guarantee safety of the middle class, and create a fair and level playing field among workers across America. But, reverting the minimum wage in places where it is higher will not necessarily be an easy task. There are many advocates for it, and most of them being minimum wage workers themselves. To act upon this problem a bill would have to be placed forward into Congress. In order for the bill to be passed it has to receive a majority vote, and this could be difficult because many Democrats support a higher minimum wage. However, if they took the time to look at the opposing view and realize the negative effects it causes, their minds will change.

Humanity reaches unbelievable heights, discovers old civilizations, creates supersonic aircraft, launches every day new high tech gadgets, but fails to resist the challenge of the 21st century- the poverty. The U.S.A. has experienced crisis and prolonged period of economic instability which threatened first of all the economic security of individuals, families and whole communities. The minimum wage becomes a wealth inequality and economic segregation that endangers the ability to eat and remain healthy, have access to education and new opportunities. In these circumstances, replacing the minimum wage with a living wage will serve as a relief for the poor and will bring benefits to the local businesses and the economy as well.

Minimum wage is a problem, but most don’t want to raise it. Raising minimum wage will be a big problem now and including the future. Raising minimum wage is a problem depending on a social hierarchy. For many years the U.S had had many protesters and this is a problem according to state officials. Family's around the world are surviving on as little as 4.25 an hour in this case people have to survive off of food stamps and family members. Job owners can choose to higher the pay due to a raise in the company or a downgrade will determine whether they will make below minimum wage. Minimum wage should be increased from 7.25 to 9.00 an hour because of the over qualified, educated, and experienced Americans who are now relying on minimum wage jobs as a result of the struggling economy. Also, increasing minimum wage could help stimulate the economy. But, in order to get the economy back on track the spending power must be in the hands of the Americans who in fact, spend. With today's tough job market most job seekers are willing to acquire positions they are considered over qualified for, even if it means taking a pay cuts. Therefore, an increase in minimum wage will ensure that low wage over qualified workers have the means for vital necessities like housing, food, transportation and health care. Last year more than 200,000 Americans with college degrees were working minimum wage jobs due to our struggling economy. Furthermore, an increase in minimum wage would help stimulate the economy by

3.3% of Americans aged sixteen years or older earn at or below the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. With an estimated 45 million citizens living in poverty, I will attempt to prove why we must increase the minimum wage to at least $10.10 an hour. In this paper, I will discuss the history and definitions of poverty and minimum wage as well as the pros and cons of implementing a higher minimum wage. I will also examine the economic and social effects of the minimum wage and how it pertains to our day to day lives. In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established The Fair Labor Standards Act or FLSA as a part of The New Deal. With this, a federal minimum wage of $0.25 was introduced. The act also provided overtime pay, a maximum workweek of forty-four hours, recordkeeping requirements, and a restriction on child labor. Before its passage, one in four children were working sixty hours a week for a median salary of $4.00 per week. Over 700,000 workers were affected by the Fair Labor Standards Act and Roosevelt called it the most important legislation since the Social Security Act of 1935. (Grossman) Since its introduction, the minimum wage has been increased twenty-two times by twelve different presidents. (Bose) The act was specifically intended for those working in manufacturing. Only about 20% of the population was covered by the minimum wage law. Other industries were exempt from the law due to concerns that it would restrict employment. The FSLA faced judicial opposition from the very beginning and has never been without controversy. The National Association of Manufacturers or NAM, denounced the new laws as “a step in the direction of communism, bolshevism, fascism, and Nazism.” (Cole) Many politicians and merchants vehemently opposed the Act and considered it an attack on traditional American values. Roosevelt addressed this apprehension in a fireside chat where he is quoted as saying, “Do not let any calamity-howling executive with an income of $1,000.00 a day, who has been turning his employees over to the Government relief rolls in order to preserve his company’s undistributed reserves, tell you […] that a wage of $11.00 a week is going to have a disastrous effect on all American industry.” (Tritch)

There has been great controversy on the federal minimum wage rate in the United States. Many argue that it should be raised to $15 to compensate people that are forced to provide for their family with a minimum wage salary. Others argue that raising the minimum wage will harm the economy, causing business to lay off workers and create an increase in prices. While both sides are valid, the latter is correct to an extent.

If the minimum wage is raised it would drive small businesses that are already struggling out of business. Seattle recently approved a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, and now everyone's curious about how exactly the change may affect companies. These questions include whether or not businesses will raise prices, fire staff, cut hours, or all of the above. “As a business owner, my biggest expense is labor,” says Brett Bastian, CEO of Blast Moba in Salt Lake City, Utah. “Increasing minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 is doubling it. This is a huge burden to businesses but the cost will get passed on to consumers. I have a business partner who said he will have to increase his prices by 40 percent if it happens.” There would be less small businesses that would be hiring and even the larger business would hire less people because of the overall cost of hiring employees. Less people would be working. The effects of raising the minimum wage may impact small business owners far more than large companies, because a rise in minimum wage impacts the profit margins of small business at a greater rate, according to Gaebler.” The study from Purdue University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, “If the minimum wage were increased to $15 an hour, prices at fast food restaurants would rise by an estimated 4.3 percent, according to a new study. That would mean a McDonald’s Big Mac, which currently goes for $3.99, would cost about 17 cents more, or $4.16.” You could also expect to see similar increases in the price of many consumer and business

A higher minimum wage is deleterious to the fragile American economic system. Raising the minimum wage is often cast as a necessity to ensure that employees are able to earn a decent living. But it’s also a complicated issue that goes beyond those who clean bathrooms, flip burgers, and bag groceries. It´s implications directly affect business owners and how their businesses are run. A higher minimum wage is detrimental to the economy because it devalues the dollar bill, is bad for small businesses, and causes severe increases in unemployment.

Reports have shown that raising minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would add $22.1 billion net into the economy and create 85,000 new jobs in the next three years (Cooper). While that seems very good for the United States raising it would actually be worse. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that a minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $10.10 cause 500,000 jobs to be lost (CBO). This is due to the increase of cost to pay employees. For example, there was a survey of 1,213 business and human resource professionals. A staggering 38% of employers said they would have to let go employees if minimum wage increased (Kast 2014). It would cost businesses thousands of dollars more to pay the salaries which would mean less hours and less employees. From this information, one can infer that increasing the minimum wage may have some economic benefits, it is not worth the