Raising Minimum Wage

With the presidential elections right around the corner policy on minimum wage has come up for debate once again. William Hoar from The New American argues in his article “Misguided minimum wage mandate” that raising the minimum wage will only result in loss of jobs. According to the editorial board at USA Today, “ inflation adjusted income of the top 1 percent has grown by 58 percent and the remaining 99 percent has only grown by 6.4 percent”. They then state that a raise to 15 dollars an hour only comes out to an annual income of 30,000 a year. It is true that the majority of the minimum wage workforce is from ages 18 to 25 but considering the fact that that age group are the people attending college and paying off student loans, then it should be expected that they are unhappy with such a low salary. At the minimum wage of 7.25 that comes out to 1200 dollars per month for the cost of living. Therefore raising the minimum wage will not only increase morale, it will also reduce rates of poverty.

Increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cause more people to be laid off. Labor economist Joseph Sabia of San Diego State University went against the raise of the minimum wage because businesses will start cutting low-skilled workers and their decrease in income will result in poverty. Increase in minimum

With the minimum wage set at $7.25 dollars per hour many people are struggling to make do. The average cost of living in America is too much for people, who make minimum wage, to make ends meet. It’s thought that raising the minimum wage will have a negative effect on the unemployment rate but there has been no evidence of that. The value of the minimum wage has dropped immensely since 1960. Raising the minimum wage will be beneficial to America and its citizens. In 1968 the minimum wage was equal to $10.74 today. That means in 50 years the purchasing power of the minimum wage has diminished. From the end of WWII upto 1968 minimum wage was on pace with the average worker productivity rate. If this trend was true from 1968 to today and worker

As the cost of living is raising every day, it is really important to raise minimum wage as well. Through the years, there have been questions about this topic, but no changes have been made. Some people do not realize the importance of minimum wage or even its history. It is a real struggle for many people because they are living in poor conditions making around $200 a week. That is a real struggle for those trying to provide for their family. They have a really hard time trying to make it till the end of the month. They are afraid and worried at the same time because they cannot pay their bills in time or even go to the doctor if they get sick. Increasing the minimum federal wage could make a difference for those living in unfortunate conditions.

Who knew that minimum wage could save the world and the people in it? The last time minimum wage was raised on July 24, 2009, and that when it rose from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, How have we been living on $7.25 this long? We haven't been living on it we were trying to survive and a lot of people can’t survive on a minimum wage that low. Raising minimum wage to an amount that could actually let people live comfortably would help the economy and a lot of people who struggle in this economy. This is not all that can help but raising the minimum wage can be the start of a lot of problems that deal with job growth, reducing child neglect, and poverty.

Minimum wage jobs are known as the type of job to have as a teenager. Nowadays, minimum wage jobs are also common among single mothers and immigrants. Those struggling families need help from the government because their income is not enough to buy groceries and necessities for their families. Those people who work at the minimum wage salaries only get a little amount of money this is a problem for their families. The minimum wage has not kept up with the inflation in the economy. Increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 will help people in poverty to have a better income and lifestyle to those who need it.

Others studies also report that women are impacted more than men. Two thirds of all workers being paid at or below the federal minimum wage are women. This has been continued in a lot of companies, where there still give more rights to men than women for the same position. This means that 67% more women work minimum wage jobs than men. So, this will really affect women because they will be still doing the same amount of work or more work than before and getting paid less than men.

On November 9th, the voters of Maine chose to boost the states minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage intends to increase the living standard of low-level and low-skilled workers, specifically in service-sector jobs. However, sometimes it hurts the people it intends to help. Many economists have debated what the minimum wage should be that would benefit both the economy and society. Starting with John Maynard Keynes, economists have argued about the minimum wage for decades. Traditional economists argued that the labor market is in balance at equilibrium, however, Keynes argued that settling at equilibrium would not improve the labor market situation or properly stimulate aggregate demand.

The minimum wage has been a topic of discussion for decades. It was introduced in the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, originally set at $0.25. It has since been raised 29 times. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 and was set in 2009 (11). This is the reason many people are upset with the wage not increasing. It would take $8.09 in 2016 to equal the $7.25 from 2009. The minimum wage needs to be increased to boost the economy and lift families out of poverty. However, the minimum wage should not be increased to more than $10 per hour to prevent an increase in the price of consumer goods and prevent a spike in high school dropout rates.

“...paying fast-food restaurant employees $15 an hour could lead to higher prices.” (John) Higher minimum wage could lead to higher prices overall. “New models of employment show that there are some cases in which a minimum wage can have positive effects on employment and social welfare. The effects depend ultimately on the prevailing market wage and the frictions in the market.”(John) There are positive things about an increase in minimum wage. “Some smaller jurisdictions have adopted a $15-per-hour rate, however. The city of Seattle is phasing in a plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour. So is the University of California, where the mandated minimum will rise to $15 an hour in 2017”.(John) Increases in some states have already begun and will continue.

The average minimum wage worker normally makes only $15,080 annually(). This is hardly enough to afford a one-bedroom apartment in America. This a very hard lifestyle to live off of. The average full-time worker, normally makes roughly around $50,000. Increasing minimum wage pay does not help lower poverty rates, decrease prices of goods or services, or create more job opportunities.

From looking at the Economic Policy Institute alone, the proposition for raising minimum wage is a good idea. Based on the article, Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift wages for 41 million American workers, reported by David Cooper; a gradual raise of minimum wage can vastly improve the living of standard for a variety of Americans. Senators Bernie Sanders, Patty Murray and Representatives Bobby Scott, Keith Ellison have introduced a new process in aspirations to gradually increase minimum wage. Their reasoning behind this stems from the fact that anyone working full-time on minimum wage does not earn enough money to be above the federal poverty line. An increase in minimum wage would result in an increase of earnings for 22.5 million workers. In addition, increasing minimum wage would also create a reduction in the unequal race and gender wage gap. This is because an increase in minimum wage projects an increase in wages to 40.1% African-Americans, 33.5% Hispanics, and 33.8% of women. Cooper also claims that an increase in minimum wages would reduce poverty, he states, “the majority of poor people age 18 to 64 who can work (i.e., they are not in school, retired, or disabled) do work, and over 40 percent work full time. Moreover, increasing the minimum wage is an effective tool for reducing poverty.” In conclusion, many EPI articles agree with Cooper and his claims that an increase in minimum wage would positively affect Americans.

Currently, the federal minimum wage sits at $7.25 per hour. (Alison Doyle). The debate is whether or not the minimum wage should be increased to $15 per hour. Larger states, such as California and New York, are preparing to raise their minimum wage to $15 per hour in the coming years. (Kate Rogers). Due to the size and population of states such as these, a minimum wage increase could actually be beneficial in increasing revenue and the standard of living for many employees. The majority of the United States is not as fortunate and vastly populated as states such as these. Therefore, an increase in the minimum wage could result in layoffs and reduced hiring. (Doyle). Overall, the minimum wage should not be increased to $15 per hour.

    Proponents of the minimum wage increase state that there is a significant benefits to the many even though there will be cost to a few.  Advocates of the $15/hour wage agree that some jobs will be lost, but that we can live with the cost of a few jobs in order to make things better for many.  This side indicates that 55% of families earning income less than $55,000 per year would benefit.  They further argue that many of the minimum wage workers are transient workers and change employment every three months.  These workers would still benefit from an increased minimum wage in that they would potentially earn more money for working fewer hours.

American teenagers rejoice in happiness for the ability to buy whatever they want with a minimum wage increase… is what is to be expected with the increase of the federal minimum wage minimum wage, but while everyone loves being able to buy that new video game on release, how does this put everyone, including the teen, at an economical disadvantage? Low wage citizens and those who live in poverty might argue that raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 would make their lives easier to economically maintain due to the raise of money gained, but that is simply not true. Therefore, so that inflation/higher production costs doesn’t devastate the national economy of the United States, the minimum wage should not be raised any higher than what it is currently placed at.