Raising Minimum Wage

One of the biggest political topics in today's society is the federal minimum wage and whether it should be raised or kept at where it is now at $7.25 an hour. Arguments could be made for both sides on whether it should be raised or left alone. The majority of minimum wage in today’s job market are unskilled positions. Minimum wage jobs were created for teenagers and colleges kids as a way to get into the workforce and to have a little extra money for themselves. It was not designed to be a wage for people to live on. Increasing the minimum wage would hurt the economy by hurting small businesses, a huge loss of jobs and it would increase the competition between teens and adults. Overall if the federal minimum wage is increased it will have many negative effects on the economy.

It can also be argued that raising the minimum wage would inadvertently have a negative effect on the economy and actually increase poverty. If the minimum wage were to increase from $7.25 to $10.10, the result would be the loss of 500,000 jobs, as predicted by the Congressional Budget Office (Should the Federal). 54% of employers stated that they would lower hiring levels and 38% stated that they

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.

There is a lot of controversy over whether the minimum wage should be increased to 15$ an hour in all states. Proponents say that current wages in America are not livable because inflation is way higher than the current minimum wage; Minimum wage was 1.60 in 1968, which is equal to 11.60 today. Opponents say that many cannot afford this, will have to close down, make cuts, raise prices and lay off people because they will need to pay them more. Most economists believe that that high of an increase would hurt job growth. I believe that Increasing the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide will do more harm than good. Raising the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour nationwide is too big of a jump and would just cause businesses to cut off workers, force small businesses to close and increase inflation.

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.

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.

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

The minimum wage is one of the most controversial issues on our country, which is United States has been facing last ten years. There have been never ending debates over this issue until the government, company, and others party stand together, and raise the minimum wage throughout the nations. There are communities that believe raise the minimum wage has negative impact of every sector of the country. Other communities have different beliefs over the issue, raising the minimum wage helps the poor people, and would help not hurt our economy.

The main reason raising the minimum wage radically would kill the economy is the pressure it would place on small businesses. According to TheWashingtonPost.com article, Small Businesses are the backbone of the economy. They also cited that many studies from the U.S. Small Business Administration show small firms employ just

However, not everyone is on the bandwagon. Conservative economists point out the negative effects the wage increase could have on the economy. They see it having an effect on the demand of jobs. Businesses facing higher labor costs would raise prices, passing those higher costs on to their customers. That would lead their customers to cut back on their purchases, meaning that businesses would need fewer workers (Lowrey). Raising the minimum wage would also make hiring low-wage workers more expensive relative to other investments, like new machinery. Businesses might then reduce their use of low-wage workers and shift their spending toward other things, such as automated systems.

Many argue that raising the minimum wage makes hiring workers more expensive, eliminates jobs at the bottom, slows growth and ultimately raises unemployment. Economic studies show that raising the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation creates little additional harm, but what the president is

Although their wages are being increased to $15 an hour, it is a good indicator of what can happen with a smaller amount of $10 an hour. The city has already had many restaurant closures and other business closures due to the wage increases. Anthony Antonio, the CEO and president of the Washington Restaurant Association stated the cost breakdown of restaurants as “36 percent of funds devoted to labor, 30 percent to food costs, 30 percent to other operating costs, and the remaining 4 percent was profit margin.” With the implemented rise in minimum wage the labor costs would “rise to 42 percent in quick service restaurants and 47 percent in full service restaurants.” This is an indicator of the drastic conditions that this increase in minimum wage can cause for businesses. It is a warning from Seattle to the nation to not go forth with increasing the minimum wage, whether it be $15 an hour or $10 an hour. Either way, with a 4% profit margin before the increase, there has to be some changes to businesses or most likely the option would be to raise prices for the

Imagine standing over a scorching grill for hours, taking care of the elderly, both lifting and transporting heavy loads, basically doing back breaking work; only to be making less than $8 and hour. That is the reality for millions of people in the work force who are earning minimum wage. Whether or not minimum wage should be raised has been a question many people have been discussing for years and has become quite controversial. Those opposed to increased minimum wages would argue that a minimum wage salary is already sufficient enough, or in some cases even “too high”. In spite of the opposing sides, it is almost certain that a rise in minimum wage will either positively or negatively affect several aspects of the country. For one, an increase in minimum wage could result in an economic shift. Furthermore, the current poverty level within the country, with the help of a higher minimum wage, would either decrease or as a result. Thirdly, a change in poverty levels caused by a higher minimum wage would ultimately change the amount of government spending and those who receive it. Minimum wage being raised would definitely be impactful not only the people receiving those minimum waged salaries, but also the economy, their families, and even the government funding.

Contrary to these beliefs, I believe that raising the minimum wage will not only benefit the company and employee immensely, but overall increase the productivity of workers. The raising of the minimum wage will help these low income families support their families, which decreases the poverty level too.

In the reading of Minimum wage and magical thinking he discusses that raising the minimum wage would have a negative impact and would actually hurt those that it is supposed to help and I would agree. Raising the minimum wage would cause inflation to rise, thus basically canceling out what it was intended to do and making the US dollar worth less. Secondly, minimum wage increase would cause the price of goods to rise and then less people will be buying so, then you are paying employees more and making less revenue. Lastly, this would hurt the very people that raising the minimum wage is intended to help because the number of jobs that are entry level or low skilled will drop and then people who were making a 7.25 minimum wage will now be earning a 0 dollar wage. Minimum wage does not need to increase, especially not as drastic as some people are calling for and the positive outcome that is thought it would produce actually would be doing more harm than good.