Raising The Minimum Wage Should Not Increase The Value Of The Worker 's Labor

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.

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.

One of the most talked about subjects in the U.S economy is the topic of minimum wage. With president Obama’s increase in the minimum wage to 10.10$ per hour people, both economists and politicians alike, have been debating whether raising the bar is a smart idea. At a time when the country the country’s inflation continues to rise at a steady pace and Americans are constantly working to feed their families, some economists know that a raise in the minimum wage would help elevate some of the difficulty. The last time the federal minimum wage was raised was in July of 2009, where rose from 6.55$ to 7.25$. However, there are plenty of reasons as to why the wage should be raised. Some may not think it, but raising the

Also, with the increase in minimum wage a lot of the entry jobs will go away and is perfectly explained by James Sherk in this statement: "Employers respond to higher labor costs by hiring fewer workers. Higher minimum wages eliminate entry-level positions that provide unskilled employees the opportunity to gain experience. Less experience makes it harder for workers to become more productive and earn higher wages" (qtd in Bill Gates). James Sherk, "who is a senior policy analyst in labor economics at The Heritage Foundation", and is a supporter against raising minimum wage (Bill Gates). James describes that unskilled workers start out at an entry-level job, where they earn the minimum wage, but if minimum wage goes up business will close more entry-level jobs (Bill Gates). Before a minimum wage

Although America is known as the richest country in the world, 43 million of its citizens are in poverty. Unfortunately, some of them work full time, yet are still in poverty due to the low minimum wage (“Should We Raise”). In 1928, the first federal minimum wage of 25 cents per hour was set by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to prevent workers from being underpaid. Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 (Smith). The age old debate of whether or not to raise it is still going on in the US. The federal minimum wage should be increased to keep up with inflation, help support the poor, and stimulate the economy.

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

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 benefits for an increase, then the disadvantages, and in the last paragraph, I will

Increasing the minimum wage causes middle class Americans have less money in their pockets to spend. Representatives of both businesses and charities have almost unanimously stated that they will be forced to reduce their hours and staff size to conform to the wage increase (Englander). The risk of getting laid off or getting your hours cut because of a wage increase is ludicrous, considering said increase is meant to benefit those same people. San Francisco has recently increased their minimum wage to $15 an hour, and is starting to struggle to support it. The number of households in the area earning less than $25,000 a year is steadily growing,

Many American workers will benefit from raising the minimum wage. 35 million workers, which is more than one in four, are receiving the minimum wage. 30 percent of percent of African American workers, 38 percent of Hispanic workers, and 15.5 million working men receive the minimum wage. These people would all benefit greatly from raising the minimum wage. It is a myth that people who receive minimum wage are working teenagers in fast-food. 89 percent of minimum-wage workers are 20 years old or older. 27.7 percent of minimum-wage workers have children, and may have trouble supporting their children with such a low income. It is also a myth that minimum-wage workers are high school graduates only or high school drop outs. 45 percent of minimum-wage

This is due to the ultimate purpose of minimum wage, the fear of unemployment, and inflation. Mike Patton states, “After all, the minimum wage was never intended to be a career salary, but rather a stepping stone to bigger and better things” (par. 2). This means minimum wage was only supposed to help people who are starting off. Eventually, Congress predicted they would be promoted or move to a higher paying job with the experience they earned. Today, there are not many minimum wage workers coming from families in poverty (“History and Debate of Minimum Wage,” par. 5). Most of these workers are young, who still have support from their parents or other family members. These young workers fit the image Congress had in mind when creating minimum

People in society must work in order to make a living, whether they have a highly skilled job, such as nursing or even lower skilled job such as working at fast food restaurant, they all must work to sustain themselves and their family. Many people who work in these low skilled jobs, get paid much less than the higher skilled jobs, however there are laws to protect these unskilled works, such as minimum wage. Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage that an employer can pay its employees, preventing employees being exploited by their employers. Changing the minimum wage has positive and negative effects for both the workers, and businesses which makes raising minimum wage controversial.

The topic on whether the minimum wage should be increased our untouched has been a hot topic in the media and political scene lately. Both the republicans and democrats have spent some big bucks lobbying their insights on the matter. There has been a lot of subjective and objective arguments that are reasonable on both the pros and cons of increasing our national minimum wage. To add to the drama associated with this topic, President Obama endorsed a bill proposing a nearly 40% rise from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The President has been campaigning around the country ever since his State of the Union address, pushing congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Many say this is too high due to the costs of enacting such an increase, and many say this is a little low due to the increased cost of living. After looking into both sides of this debate, I realize that overall it would be better for the well-being of our nation to increase the minimum wage due to the short term and long term costs that an increase of the minimum wage could lead to. In terms of helping out the lower class and poor citizens of the United States, increasing the minimum wage level is not the answer.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage claim that if the minimum wage was raised, then many economic and social problems would be alleviated. This contention is at odds both with economic principles and years of creditable research. The effect of raising or even having a minimum wage has been studied extensively and the majority of studies have proven that raising a minimum wage does not have the desired effect. Both micro and macroeconomic forces affect the results of raising the minimum wage. The secondary effects of raising the minimum wage are bad both for

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

Employers do not have an unlimited amount of money at their disposal. They have to run their business so that their aggregate profits exceed their aggregate costs(ALEC). If they do not do this, they will not be able to continue to operate. Employees fall into this cost group. Employers can only pay what they can afford. Therefor, if minimum wage rises, there will be trade offs. These will include price escalations and layoffs, along with cuts in hours available to workers who do stay employed(ALEC). More than 50% of people working at minimum wage work for small companies with fewer than 100 employees(ALEC). Because of price competition between small and large businesses, these companies would not be able to raise prices enough to cover extra costs. They would either need to downsize or shut down due to the lack of money(ALEC). Not only would this wage increase hurt low wage workers, it would also greatly affect small business owners who could no longer afford to pay their employees.