. Burkhauser found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective at lowering overall poverty rates or poverty rates among workers. Even by targeting populations that raising the minimum wage was supposed to protect, such as less educated single mothers, Burkhauser confirms that minimum wage increases did little to alleviate poverty for less educated single mothers as well. Additionally, David Neumark of the University of California-Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board analyzed family-specific flows in and out of poverty as a result of an uptick in the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher used current population survey data and found that when the minimum wage was increased some workers were lifted out of poverty, but others lost their jobs and found themselves in poverty as a result of raising the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher’s findings suggest that minimum wage hikes only redistribute income among the poor and near-poor households. Only junior high school dropouts seem …show more content…
Economists such as Neumark believe that a static analysis such as that overlooks the behavioral effects of minimum wage increases. With the presence of competitive low-skilled labor markets, a government-mandated minimum wage set above the market wage rate will raise the cost of low-skilled labor to firms, creating the incentive for firms to eliminate jobs or decrease employees’ hours of work(). Many firms such as grocery chains and restaurants will start to move away from wait staff and cashiers and toward self-checkout kiosks and toward upper level skilled labor. David Neumark and William Wascher in their research confirm that some near-poor, low-skilled workers have their hours cut or lose their jobs as a result of minimum wage hikes. Resulting, in falling incomes and a rise in poverty among those households effected by the minimum wage increase
A bill increasing the current minimum wage is greatly needed, and our government officials should demand a raise due to the increase in the cost of living, as it’s no longer realistic. We need higher paying wages for all, middle and lower class income levels. Without some sort of help and support from our government the economy will only get worse. Students will not be able to afford the cost of school and living. Single family households will not be able to support their selves.
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
Raising the minimum wage sounds like a beneficial idea, but there are also a few surprising reasons why it might not be such a good plan after all. A common assumption among Americans is that raising the minimum wage equals an increased income, but, according to Joseph J. Sabia and Richard V. Burhkauser that may not be the case. They discovered that, “examining only employment effects, however, may mask full labor demand effects. Firms may respond to minimum wage hikes by (i) reducing both employment and average hours worked by employed workers or (ii) increasing hours of retained workers to compensate for reduced employment” (Couch and Wittenburg 2001; Neumark and Wascher 2007) (595). What, exactly, would be the point in
What’s in it to lose? Nothing because by doing so it can help to reduce the government welfare spending at the same time helping someone to at least make ends meet. Therefore, raising the minimum wage will help people to take of their family basic needs such as good nutritious food, instead of the unhealthy food, health assurance for them to go to the doctor and a place to stay. People that work minimum wages not always able to afford their basic needs. They sometimes prone to sickness because of their unhealthy lifestyle and with no health assurance they won’t be able to afford to go the doctor or their
Investing in employees is the single most important investment that a company can make. A lot of Americans are now in deep poverty, or have a huge amount of debt to catch up too. With the thought of that, in the United States today, millions of Americans are living on the federal minimum wage of $7.25. For this case, it is necessary that there is a need for an increase in the federal minimum wage because it would be much more beneficial to both the economy of the United States and to individual workers because more Americans need spending power, higher minimum wage will help close the wide gap between the wealthy and the poor, and the working poor need to protect themselves in case something goes wrong.
Minimum wage has always been a controversial issue. Many politicians use the argument of minimum wage for their own political propaganda. Some may argue minimum wage should be raised, while others believe it will have detrimental effects on our economy if it is raised. Surprising to most people, minimum wage earners make up only a small percent of American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers make up about 2.8% of all workers in America. “The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These are high school and college students” (Sherk 2). But high school and college students are not the entire percentage of minimum wage earners. When minimum
The minimum wage is one of the most discussed issues around the country. Everyone has a different opinion if raising the minimum wage would help families across the country to have a better lifestyle or if would cause an unbalance in the economy. Democrats and Republicans have a different view on this issue, while Democrats supports raising the minimum wage by $15 an hour, Republicans have stated that they refuse increasing the wage because it would leave different factions of Americans outside of job opportunities and it would cause an unstable economy. The current presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton from the Democratic Party and Donald Trump from the Republican Party have differed in their opinions about the raising the economy with the minimum wage. In order to make a huge decision in the economy of the country it is necessary to see the facts and numbers to evaluate which decision would make the economy stable and grow equally.
While I think that the minimum wage should be raised to $15.00 an hour, Mark Perry, a scholar at AEI and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan 's Flint campus, argues “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses” (Perry). Perry wants us to know that the Seattle’s new minimum wage law is “a government-mandated wage floor that guarantees reduced employment opportunities for many workers,” and increasing the minimum wage will surely leads to small business closing and job losses (Perry). However, what he said is erroneous, and a recent report written by Michael Hiltzik, an American columnist and reporter, won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1999 and won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2004, also validated this statement.
People should not suffer any longer. MAny people are in poverty because the minimum wage can not house one individual. The United States should raise the minimum wage to 15 dollars per An hour. After reading numerous articles, magazines, and studies, i am Able to conclude that The following three reasons is why the United States should raise the minimum wage to $15. It would Increase jobs and economic activity, it would reduce poverty, and Reduce Government welfare spending. Imagine getting hourly pay that is hardly enough to buy lunch, much less feed a family.Many people have shared the personal stories of living on minimum wage. A WOMAn named anita has four children working minimum wage. Two of her kids have special needs. As a mother she wants to be with her kids. As a mother she stRuggles if she should go on doctors appointment with them or work for food. She debates this every day on her way. She quotes”you can’t judge people who are working, but still need to get help. I’m not a lazy person, trust me. A raisin the minimum wage is just about fairness, and about giving people a fighting chance to achieve the American Dream.”
A reoccurring topic in most political debates is whether minimum wage should be raised or not. Many say $7.25 is simply not enough for a family to survive in our economy. President Obama has taken a strong stance on this topic encouraging congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour considering we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Obama argues that one working full time can simply not afford to raise a family on $15,000 a year. Typically, Democrats will side with our president and argue that raising the wage is a good idea, white Republicans will disagree saying minimum wage will destroy business and hurt working class families. Some may see this as a political issue, but I say this topic is simply common sense. Minimum wage should not be raised due to higher labor costs and a higher volume of unemployment.
The minimum wage has been an important element on the United States labor system and has sparked debates between employers and workers to this day. The main argument against raising the minimum wage is that the harmful effects raising the minimum wage would create do not justify the small-scale benefits generated by the raise. Business owners and conservatives claim that raising the minimum wage will result in job loss, hurt low skilled workers, and may result in higher prices for consumers. In a 2012 paper published in the peer-reviewed Industrial and Labor Relations Review (ILRReview), economists Richard Burkhauser, Benjamin Hansen, and Joseph Sabia, state that while some low-skilled workers living in poverty do see their incomes rise when the minimum wage increases, many others lose their jobs or have their hours significantly cut. Their study concluded that New York’s 2004-2006 $1.60-per-hour minimum wage hike was associated with a 20.2 to 21.8 percent reduction in the employment of younger, less-educated individuals, with the largest effects for those ages 16-to-24. Conservatives believe that even though teenagers are
Fast food workers around the country are fighting to raise the hourly pay minimum wage and their union rights.
“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”
Opponents to minimum wage raise claim that the minimum wage costs jobs by pricing low-wage workers out of the labor market. However, when we review academic studies that examine the effects of minimum wage increases on
found that although low-income workers see wage increases when the minimum wage is raised, "their hours and employment decline, and the combined effect of these changes is a decline in earned income