Essay On Raising The Minimum Wage

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 minimum wage would affect teenage workers. With younger adults and teenagers finishing up school, about half look for a job, while some don’t want to or have other plans such as going to college. If minimum wage were to be increased, it would make more people want to get a job. Increasing minimum wage would put more money in consumer’s pockets to spend in stores; therefore, stores would require more staff. Teenagers would have more money which would enable them to apply more funds towards their education to improve themselves. Supporters feel if people are going to get paid more, they would want to get a job. An increase in your pay would increase the consumer rate of purchasing things, and would require more staff due to more customers since they have more money to purchase things. According to Economic Policy Institute, “Over three-quarters 3.4 million of the affected workers were adults age 20 or older. The other 1.1 million workers were teenagers, age 16-19. Despite the relatively small number of affected teens, this nevertheless represents a large share, 19.9%, of all teen workers.” (Heidi Shierholz). Those who oppose believe that increasing minimum wage would cause prices of products and services to increase rapidly and cause people to limit their spending. As prices go up,

The case against raising the minimum wage is very simple: a higher wage will make it more difficult and expensive to companies to hire workers. What will be the consequences on the economy? Well, companies won’t be able to pay all of its workers which will lead to more unemployment. At the end, people who keep their job will have a higher profit, however those who lose their job will suffer.

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.

Raising the minimum wage is a very important public policy issue. Raising the minimum wage is a responsible policy that is supported by research and demanded by the American public. Each day, minimum wage workers across the country struggle to make ends meet and provide a decent life for their kids (Scott & Perez, 2016). Raising the minimum wage is a controversial issue, many believe that raising the minimum wage would only provide low wage workers more money to spend. However, the benefits can be endless for low wage workers. If minimum wage is increased across the United States it would afford the people effected more opportunities for financial freedom. Increasing the minimum wage would raise the standard of living for low wage workers, allow families to be removed from poverty, allow for government welfare spending to be reduced and lastly additional income being spent would positively affect the economy.

Rex Huppke writes, correctly, that raising the minimum wage is a complex issue. The majority of Americans agree to higher minimum wage, most being Democrats, while many owners believe that we should keep it the same. He says that people like to raise the minimum wage because “[I]t appeals to people, and it sounds like the right thing to do” (146).

Raising minimum wage has been an ongoing issue for many years. Similar to every debatable issue, pros and cons are inevitable. In the United States, minimum wage started when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) was passed and minimum wage started at 25 cents per hour. The purpose of setting a minimum wage is to set a maximum workweek and to eliminate child labor. It is defined to be the least amount of money employers are obligated to pay their employees by law. As the years passed, the minimum wage began to increase to accommodate the growing economy. Although the wage has increased from a mere 25 cents per hour to $7.25 over the course of 75 years, living expenses are much higher causing many people to be poverty stricken (Debate.org). President Obama proposes raising the minimum wage, so that it would help minimize the income gap in America. However, most business organizations and the Republicans oppose to the idea, saying that it could potentially lead to more economic problems. While both sides have valid points, which one provides a more compelling argument? In the United States, the minimum wage should be raised in every state; therefore workers can have a more comfortable standard of living, lower the poverty line, and minimize the income gap.

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

There are a lot of opinions about raising the minimum wage, “a higher minimum wage may actually boost job creation” by Harold Meyerson, points out the benefits of increasing the minimum wage across the country, but also mentions the opinion of Republicans that are against of this issue. “A recent study by the Congressional Budget Office argued that a raise would increase the wages of 16.5 million Americans — at least 33 times the number of those who might lose jobs — and elevate 900,000 people out of poverty.” (Congressional Budget Office,

When the first minimum wage was established in 1938 the job market impacted negatively in the loss of a lot of

Minimum wage should be increased, so the Democrats project. It should be increased seeing that it would benefit citizens and their families for the reason of financial issues. Those who did not have the opportunity to receive a higher education are struggling to make ends meat. Minimum wage is at a very low rate for a person trying to own a home, car, clothing, food and benefits. A person can be working more than one job and still may not have those necessities, due to the fact that goods and bills take a great amount of money. If minimum was increased there would be no need for public housing, food stamps or medicare because citizens would be making enough money to be able to provide themselves with all of these necessities to live. The Republicans say that the problem with raising the minimum wage is that prices of goods will incline and will put society in the same spot that we are in today. Citizens would not be able to afford that increase. Education is a problem today in the political realm. For a higher education, the cost should not be as high as it is today for the reason of needing an education to survive in today’s world. Democrats believe that the cost should be cut completely or lowered tremendously. Republicans on the other hand disagree, it is citizens own responsibility to get themselves a higher education and should not rely on the government for

Why was minimum wage established? In the late 1890’s several political movements emerged to improve working conditions and wages American women and children. Women and children did not possess the privilege of negotiating contracts or joining unions. The circumstance allowed employers to pay them the very minimum leading people deep into extreme poverty causing them to involucrate in denigrating moral acts in order to afford an adequate standard of living. In the early 1910’s, Massachussetts enacted the first minimum wage law and was followed by many other states in the later years. These laws focused on weekly wages based on the individual’s age and experience.  However, these laws did not include protection for men which led to inequality of employment. Many argued that minimum wage laws set standards of employment that were not suitable for men, which made

Minimum wages go all the way back to 1938, during the great depression, when the stock market crash and bank loan were failing. Families need income of some type, were they wanted to make it fair were individual could get pay the same without a college degree. I am going to start off with a little about minimum wages history and how this could help our Economic.

“The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was

If the federal minimum wage is raised then the United States of America’s economy will become stronger and grow. The economy will become stronger because people will be making $3.35 more so they would have more money to spend and save. If more people are making more and spending more it will build the US economy. People spending more and selling more would help improve the quality of life in the US. The US would also see an increased immigration if they are paying higher wages. People saving more money means that more people will not rely on social security. Then the government can spend less on programs like welfare and social security and start to reduce the national