Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Some argue that if an increase in minimum wage is passed businesses will raise the prices of goods and services to help compensate the cost of pay raises. The cost in goods and services is already on an increase due to the high host of gas/oil, yet we are

Many Americans work solely to pay for food, electricity, and housing. In response to this “nearly 30 states have raised their minimum wage to combat job loss, poverty, and economic inflation.” (http://www.pewresearch.org). This just goes to show that more than two thirds of the country are willing to raise their wages, because the local government thinks that it is absolutely necessary in order to allow people to live sustainably. States such as California have raised their wages up to as high as $15.00! Raising the minimum wage has helped many people begin to start to live healthy lives, and it provides a way for families to expend for necessities if they work at or near minimum wage,

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

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.

Raising the minimum wage sounds like a beneficial idea, but there are also a few surprising reasons why it might not be such a good plan after all. A common assumption among Americans is that raising the minimum wage equals an increased income, but, according to Joseph J. Sabia and Richard V. Burhkauser that may not be the case. They discovered that, “examining only employment effects, however, may mask full labor demand effects. Firms may respond to minimum wage hikes by (i) reducing both employment and average hours worked by employed workers or (ii) increasing hours of retained workers to compensate for reduced employment” (Couch and Wittenburg 2001; Neumark and Wascher 2007) (595). What, exactly, would be the point in

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.

What’s in it to lose? Nothing because by doing so it can help to reduce the government welfare spending at the same time helping someone to at least make ends meet. Therefore, raising the minimum wage will help people to take of their family basic needs such as good nutritious food, instead of the unhealthy food, health assurance for them to go to the doctor and a place to stay. People that work minimum wages not always able to afford their basic needs. They sometimes prone to sickness because of their unhealthy lifestyle and with no health assurance they won’t be able to afford to go the doctor or their

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,

While I think that the minimum wage should be raised to $15.00 an hour, Mark Perry, a scholar at AEI and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan 's Flint campus, argues “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses” (Perry). Perry wants us to know that the Seattle’s new minimum wage law is “a government-mandated wage floor that guarantees reduced employment opportunities for many workers,” and increasing the minimum wage will surely leads to small business closing and job losses (Perry). However, what he said is erroneous, and a recent report written by Michael Hiltzik, an American columnist and reporter, won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1999 and won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2004, also validated this statement.

While the opposition purports that job loss and excess power to the government are the fundamental products of raising the minimum wage, the inherent ethical worth of doing so remains paramount. In 2014, the Obama administration proposed to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, which would have been a significant increase. Poll after poll demonstrates support for an increase in minimum wage from many groups, such as stakeholders, policymakers, as well as the American people. Many Americans agree that increasing wages for lower income individuals is a key component in reducing poverty. Assuming that a minimum wage beneficiary does not lose employment or hours, an increase in the minimum wage can have a positive effect. According to the Congressional Research Service, “a single parent with two children who works full-time, year-round at the current minimum wage has earnings of about 78% of the poverty line. An increase in the minimum wage to $9 per hour would raise that family’s earnings to about 97% of the poverty line and an increase to $12 per hour would

“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.”

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

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

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 is not the answer. The various amount of unintended consequences that would come about as a result is reason enough not to support an increase. Those who support an increase contend that it will alleviate poverty. Suppose a spike in the minimum wage does reduce poverty for some workers. This development will be offset since an increase in the minimum wage will further price out inexperienced workers from the job market, resulting in an increase in unemployment and thus, poverty. This can properly be described as a catch-22 situation; no matter happens, someone will lose. When you take these negative affects into account, is an increase in the minimum wage worth it? As expounded further, no it is not.