Persuasive Essay On Minimum Wage

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 minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

Imagine a single mother who has has the task of taking care of multiple children, all on a minimum wage budget. This mother’s mind is overwhelmed with worries. Will she be able to pay next month's rent? WIll she be able to put food on the table for all of her children. The single mother lives each and every day with this anxiety, and even with government assistance: Is it enough to live comfortably?

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.

The issue of the minimum wage has recently come to the forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss of available jobs. Small businesses maintain that it would spell their doom.

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.

I decided to write about how I felt regarding the federal government's involvement in controlling the minimum wage and that I felt they are disconnected in their understanding of the impacts on communities when they raise the minimum wage. I work for a manufacturing company in the U.S. and I understand wholeheartedly what the impact of salary increases due to our bottom line. In very competitive markets the difference between success and failure can be separated by the difference of only a few dollars per part, and while in other countries, their manufacturing bottom line is subsidized by their governments we are forced to generate profits the old-fashioned way through supply and demand. This is why I decided to take a stance in my persuasive essay and challenge the status quo of the Department of Labor and Wages. No longer should the federal government dictate a national minimum wage but should allow each state to establish their own minimum wage based on the economic condition of their counties and their state, as a whole.

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

Those in favor of the minimum wage have argued, contrary to established economic theory, that the minimum wage can actually increase employment. An increase in income results in additional "money in the pockets" of workers which encourages greater spending in the economy. This in turn causes greater demand for goods and services, an increase in production, and the creation of new jobs. Additionally, a higher minimum wage is thought reduce government welfare spending. If workers earned more money, their dependence on and eligibility for government benefits would decrease. A recurring theme among pro minimum wage arguments is the issue of stagnant wages. Improvements in economic growth and productivity have exceeded increases in the minimum

Do you believe that all jobs that require little to no skill deserve more than the federal minimum wage? If you said yes then perhaps you are unaware of the many negative effects surrounding a higher minimum wage and after reading this you will be educated on why the minimum wage should not be raised. In the beginning, the minimum wage was created with good intentions. It was originally established in 1938 and was $.25 an hour (Sessions). It was created to make sure that businesses would not take advantage over workers. While the minimum wage was and still is a good concept, it has some flaws. The major issue is that the minimum wage continues to be raised. The main reason for the increasing of the minimum wage is because people who make

If we look this in an economist’s perspective, the businesses that will be directly affected by the new minimum wage are factories, supermarkets, fast food franchises, small hotels, restaurants and grocery stores, as well as transportation businesses. As a consequence, the increase in the cost of production will be transferred to the consumers. Those people who are all well paid will have less headache dealing with the increase in the cost of living. But how about the college students, the people who just started to work? They need to deal with the increase in the price of food, as the transportation cost has increased. These people who can barely make ends meet will find eating outside to become more expensive than before and need to cook food for at home. Certainly business like restaurants and hotels will suffer, because if the firms increase their prices, they would get fewer customers, but if they stick to their current charged, the businesses would get lower profits as the employees’ wages have increased. Certainly, a little inflation rate is favorable for economic growth, as people will invest on assets when they expect the price will increase. However, if the level of inflation is too high, and there are too many goods where prices are inflated, people will afraid to spend their money, thus the economy will

It is truly a saddening sight to see men on the street in this day and age in cities everywhere both big and small begging for spare change with a cup and sign saying "Unemployed will work for food," and it is even sadder when the person is a woman with her children by her side. As of now, there are approximately 325 million people in America and of them, 1.7 million live off of minimum wage. 4.9% of those people are unemployed and .5% of them homeless. The number of jobs available are constantly shrinking, faster and faster and minimum wage is being less and less effective as a means for survival. To answer this problem, I propose a modest and efficient proposition. My proposition would be to abolish the minimum wage and reallocating pay elsewhere, or in simple terms remove minimum wage. There are many reasons to do so but the main reasons to remove the minimum wage are that it slows job growth and opportunities for jobs, it is not helping to curb poverty but worsen it, and it is hurting low-wage workers.

Low minimum wages affects everyday families and lives, more than the average person would think. A small minimum wage could have an very small effect on someone’s life, such as not being able to afford a new pair of boots or that new phone, contradictory to this low wages could also have a very serious effect on someone’s life . Meaning that a parent or single individual could not support their family because a lack of income, it could also mean the difference of living under a safe roof, or living in the streets. In 2016 alone, 40.6 million people in the United States

Employers do not have an unlimited amount of money at their disposal. They have to run their business so that their aggregate profits exceed their aggregate costs(ALEC). If they do not do this, they will not be able to continue to operate. Employees fall into this cost group. Employers can only pay what they can afford. Therefor, if minimum wage rises, there will be trade offs. These will include price escalations and layoffs, along with cuts in hours available to workers who do stay employed(ALEC). More than 50% of people working at minimum wage work for small companies with fewer than 100 employees(ALEC). Because of price competition between small and large businesses, these companies would not be able to raise prices enough to cover extra costs. They would either need to downsize or shut down due to the lack of money(ALEC). Not only would this wage increase hurt low wage workers, it would also greatly affect small business owners who could no longer afford to pay their employees.

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