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 …show more content…
It is a popular opinion that increasing the minimum wage would reduce income inequality by the process that an increase would have a ripple effect, raising the incomes of people who make slightly above the minimum wage, and then slightly above that and so on and so on, thus changing the distribution of wealth within society. As a result, a minimum wage increase would help reduce gender and race inequality, since a greater representation of women and minorities work in the low-income labor force. Minimum wage advocates maintain that the current minimum wage is not high enough to enable people to afford housing and everyday essentials. They believe raising the minimum wage would combat poverty and lead to a healthier population. Improving the level of poverty in the United States would increase school attendance, and decrease crime and high school dropout rates. Finally, defenders of the minimum wage argue that the minimum wage helps to reduce the federal deficit. Raising the minimum wage would reduce the federal budget deficit by increasing tax revenue and lowering government spending on public aid programs. Payroll and income tax revenues would rise as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and the federal deficit
By creating new jobs for more people this also raises the economy from where it’s at by a large number because the bigger circulation on money. Minimum wage would maximize the political stand point of many issues. Raising the minimum wage level would greatly impact the job field for Americans bringing higher salaries. Bumping up the minimum wage would lower the number of people who are effected by money because they either do not have a job or they don’t make enough money (Minimum Wage, Maximum Politics."
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.
Another common argument made by those in favor of the minimum wage is that it actually helps to stimulate spending, improving overall economic conditions.[vii] The theory behind this argument is that low wage earners typically spend everything they make. Whether on necessities or luxury items, minimum wage earners are likely to spend their entire paycheck. If there were an increase in the minimum wage, the people who would receive the pay increase would turn around and spend their new money. This would help to cover the costs of the increased wages as many businesses would see an almost immediate return through increased sales. While this argument seems to make sense, it must be clarified that no empirical evidence to support this claim could be found.
There have been many arguments over the years stating that raising the minimum wage will greatly impact the US economy. Some of the arguments have been that this will stimulate the economy, a competitive wage for all, and capitalistic competition. Although raising the minimum wage might sound like more money in your pocket, it would not only increase the poverty rate but also would cause those in poverty to rely on the government for more assistance as the prices of goods and services would rise well above what they are now.
There are many people that feel minimum wage workers should have their salaries increased to benefit their lifestyle. However, at the same time others feel that the federal minimum wage shouldn’t be increased because it will have worsen the amount of poverty in our country. The main concerns of the opponents include the decrease in employment and the increase of prices.
Minimum wage should be increased to help reduce poverty in the United States. Increasing the minimum wage would also help stimulate the economy by giving low-income workers, who often live paycheck to paycheck with little or no savings, more money to spend. The national minimum wage has not been increased since 2009, and over the years has not kept pace with inflation, leaving a large gap between minimum wage and the cost of living. A boost in the national minimum wage would also encourage higher education and lower unemployment rates. The national minimum wage should be increased to help reduce poverty, boost the economy, encourage workers to join the workforce and continue their education, thereby raising the standard of living of American
A higher minimum wage would mean people would have more money to spend. With people having more money to spend, this allows companies to make even more money. “Having more people working and earning good wages is good not just for the people we help, but for all of us” (Erik Bryn Jolfsson). People earning a respectable amount of money creates a cycle where they spend that money and it goes back to the businesses. Many people believe that a minimum wage increase would hurt those in businesses. “Many critics think that raising the minimum wage will hurt precisely those workers that this policy is designed to help because firms will lay off workers to save on labor costs” (Aaron Pacitti). States that have a higher minimum wage have experienced faster rates of job growth. Not only would minimum wage increase economic activity, it would boost the job growth rate as
On the ladder of economic success, minimum wage is the bottom rung. Raising the wage can put the rung out of many people’s reach and take away any chance at all for them to climb their way up. Many people believe raising the minimum wage will reduce poverty levels and that the wage has not caught up with inflation; however, the raise would have more negative than positive effects on the economy. These negative effects include unemployment and an increase of the price of consumer goods.
While some believe that raising the minimum wage will resolve poverty issues and lack of pay with the signing of legislation, the raising of the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour (as advocated by President Obama and the Democrats) would cause the poverty issue to be worse than it already is; inflation would occur, employees would be laid off, and minimum wage employees would lose welfare benefits, thus offsetting the wage increase. The Government should consider the effects on the American economy as a whole, as opposed to just considering the wage at which certain individuals are paid.
Do Americans enjoy seeing their fellow Americans struggle? Many people would generally feel morally obligated to help someone struggling financially in our economy. Yet, no matter how hard an employee works, they can’t seem to make ends meet because wages are substantially low. It would be great if these hardworking Americans that work to provide for their families could see their hard work through their paychecks. These workers are working long hours and are struggling to survive, most of whom are living paycheck-to-paycheck. There seems to be a simple solution to fix this problem: Raise minimum wage.
The topic of minimum wage has been an ongoing discussion for a long time, and the discussion will always be a topic in our society. The current Florida minimum wage requirement is 8.05. With this being said, Florida minimum wage is way too low for a person to support themselves in the correct manner. If a person is making eight dollars and five cents an hour, there is no way he or she would be able to pay for bills, school, insurance, etc. People that I personally know that work minimum wage jobs have humungous troubles with debt, and loans they must pay back. To be working full time you must be working at least forty hours a week. Even working forty hours a week at eight dollars and five cents an hour, you would be making somewhere around twelve hundred dollars a month. Making this much a month is nearly impossible to support yourself successfully, not to mention if you have a family that depends on you to have money to afford necessities, such as food, and shelter. Increasing the minimum wage for workers would benefit the people, so they are able to afford insurance, bills, their families, and all the necessities for living a well life.
We all want to make more money to support ourselves and our loved ones, but in times like today it is hard because the average young adult have to work multiple jobs to keep up with the price of living. Since higher paying jobs require experience individuals with a GED or high school level education and even some with college level education have trouble getting jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Although, minimum wage has been gradually increasing since 1981, during this time Jimmy Carter was President and the federal minimum wage legislation increased from $2.30 to $3.35 per hour. Then in 2007 the Fair Minimum Wage Act was signed by President George W. Bush increasing the pay rate to $5.85 an hour. On July 24, 2009, the minimum wage increased to $7.25 where it remains today. Although, the living wage are different in other locations making the state minimum wages higher than the federal rate.
Single mothers are 10% of workers affected by an increase but they make up only
In a modern world where income inequality is rampant and economic conditions are often very unfavourable to the vulnerable poor of our society, the minimum wage is often a heated focus of public policy debate. The debate often revolves around one simple question: “To what degree does an increase in the minimum wage increase the wellbeing of minimum wage workers?” Although this is a debate which is fundamentally centered around the workers, it is important to consider the reaction of the employers when attempting to create effective minimum wage policy. The responses of the firms represent a key factor; especially when projecting the potential effectiveness of the implemented programs. Generally speaking when employers are faced with the problem of being forced to pay higher wages as a result of legislated minimum wage increases, they are left with limited solutions with which to manage the associated increase in production costs as a result of the higher wage. They can choose to pass costs along to consumers, however that can result in long term sales declines which leads the firm into a downward spiral of falling profitability. This was found to be the strategy employed by Pennsylvanian fast food firms facing wage increases in the late 1990’s. As explored by Alan Card and David B. Kruger in their paper examining the response of minimum wage paying firms to price increases, they found evidence “suggesting that much of the burden of the minimum-wage rise was passed on to
A hot topic in today’s society is the concept of is minimum wage enough money to live off of? It is believed that a living wage is the decent amount of means to support the working people. Americans today are struggling to stay about the federal regulated line of poverty and feel that a minimum wage living should substantiate this goal. In reality, the minimum wage has failed to meet these requirements, leaving hard working American’s to struggle to meet the basic standards of living.