Raising Minimum Wage Will Benefit Our Economy

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

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.

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.

When there are millions of Americans living at or below poverty lines, something has to be done. Billion dollar companies and businesses that employ workers, paying them low wages is hurting the economy. The reality is, unless the minimum wage is raised, the cycle will only continue. With higher minimum wages in place, the entire country does better and, therefore, should be raised. There needs to be laws put place to raise the minimum wage. Doing so would boost the economy with all of the money that Americans would put into it. With higher minimum wages, millions of Americans can get out of poverty, not having to rely on the government for assistance such as food stamps, public housing, child care, and health care needs. They can afford better housing options in which they want to live. Communities would see less crimes in neighborhoods creating a safer environment. Aside from that, Americans can afford a good education, health care, as well as healthier eating and exercising habits.

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.

Between the year of nineteen twenty-nine and nineteen thirty-nine, The United States went through one of the worst economic downturn’s known as the Great Depression. The effects of the Great Depression caused many economic problems which sent wall street into a chaos. Ever since then Poverty has struck many middle and poor class families for years. Over time it has separated many families and caused those who are less fortunate to drain the wealthy. The minimum wage was created to keep many lives going. Although this is the case, minimum wage does not keep many people afloat, it has proven to be an issue and these wages need to be increased. Increasing minimum wage would increase economic activity, reduce poverty, and reduce government welfare spending. Fixing all of these will positively increase the economy and resolve our countries resounding debt.

First off, minimum wage will not support the economy it will actually raise unemployment. Businesses will be forced to pay extra money to workers and therefore will fire others to keep making a revenue. Raising minimum wage will get lots of hard workers fired due to these extra costs, and jobs will be harder to find. This does not prove good towards the economy. More will be jobless and therefore it will increase poverty.

When I read high schoolers and people who work at jobs that pay minimum wage say that raising minimum wage will solve everyone's problems, it honestly makes me think that they don't understand anything about the economy. When you raise the minimum wage, the price of essentials and necessities also increase. An example of this would be the 1970's, The price of everything was at a very low cost. Such as, Milk which was only $1.65 which today would be far better than the costly price of $3.67. Although you may be convinced that the 1970's seems an easier time to live in, you are actually quite inaccurate. While the prices of everything was low so was minimum wage at a meager one dollar an hour. The price all around of everything increases because

The United States is able to maintain a favorable economy without using minimum wage laws according to critics. Those who oppose the increase think that the country would be better without minimum wage laws. According to the opponents, this country does not need to force a certain amount on a company and the free market will set proper wages (Learning). The natural market is powerful enough to maintain a good economy. A jobholder should need to work hard for a higher wage. Over time an employee should earn more pay not have his/her boss be forced to pay a certain value (Arnstrong). Hard work will earn them the wage that they deserve. Many people will lose their jobs if there were a raise. This will happen when the companies have people who aren't able to provide that value that they are paying for (Learning). So, by increasing wage of people who simply don't deserve it, many people will lose their jobs. Increasing wages will cause higher unemployment rates. By forcing companies to pay more than the work is worth, people may actually lose their jobs (Arnstrong). If an employer has to pay each employee more they may have to let people go. Minimum wage does not help with unemployment. Minimum wage only affects people already in the workforce not the people who are looking for jobs (Learning). People searching will not be helped from increased pay. It also makes it harder for a young person

Challengers of the increased federal wage rate believe that minimum wage will hurt our current economy. They believe that if the minimum wage went up it would decrease the number of jobs available to workers, and that it will increase prices overall. Former McDonalds CEO Ed Rensi, and Fox news host Neil Cavuto firmly believe that it would destroy small businesses. But taking advice from extremely rich CEO’s and Fox news hosts doesn’t quite convince me the minimum wage shouldn’t increase.

Increasing minimum wage will great be of beneficial to nearly 28 million workers among the nation. It will also insist businesses as well, by increasing the wages this will cause additional money to be in individuals’ pockets, in which they will put back into the economy by purchasing goods and services into their populations. Minimum wage has been a hot seat for debate. If the leaders in this current society could manage to raise minimum wage, there would be countless of families that could benefit from it.

There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the

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.

Others think that an employment can have a really good living with the minimum wage that they earn. Economists did research and stated that raising it by 10% will reduce employment 0.01%. What this author is trying to conclude is that minimum wage being raised is a good thing. Everybody stating that raising the minimum wage will decrease job opportunities are not saying the truth because the employment rate will not even move at all. One full-time minimum wage used to be able used to keep a family of 3 above the poverty line and now it can not even support a single parent above the poverty line. One other example that was stated in the article was that nearly 90% of the workers who would be affected by the minimum wage hike are older than 20 and 28% are parents. These statistics show that many people used to make enough for an easy living because it was manageable to work with. Times change and good things can’t last forever. Now many families are struggling to stay together through tough times. Most barely make a decent living but what about a family of 3 or 4? There is no chance for them if their parents only make minimum wage. If it were raised many would get out of poverty and have a better living and by doing this then most families won’t have to rely on the government as much. One other benefit that this can have is the morale of the employees. Any customer enjoys seeing an employee being joyful at their job.By increasing their pay many would be motivated to do better and perform better at their own job. They would also work for the company for a long time and never have a thought about quitting the job. One last good thing that would help out millions and the government itself is that the government would be able to reduce some social programs that helped people that are living in

The most prevalent and steadfast myth surrounding the raising of the federal minimum wage is that it will doom the economy. This might seem logical at first, but just think about it for a second. Why do minimum wage employees need more cash? The answer is simple: To spend it, to buy the things that they and their families need to survive. “Most minimum wage workers need this income to make ends meet and spend it quickly, boosting the economy. Research indicates that for every $1 added to the minimum wage, low-wage worker households spent an additional $2,800 the following year” (Fair). Furthermore, EPI estimates that if the federal minimum wage were raised to $10.10 an hour, it would result in over