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Should Minimum Wage Be Decreased?

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Right now,according to Victoria Smith,over 40 million people are living in poverty. This could be changed if they were able to get enough money from their jobs, but the minimum wage isn’t high enough right now. Even if only by a little, if minimum wage were raised, the amount of people living in poverty could be reduced by at least 5 million according to Mike Konczal . Originally, the minimum wage was at only .25 cents an hour. Due to causes such as inflation, this wage has been raised to meet the current standard. Although interest in raising the wage has gone away until recently. Minimum wage should be increased because it would increase job growth and economic activity,it would reduce government spending on welfare, and reduce poverty. …show more content…

One example of another argument is,“ research found that jobs in transportation, logistics, as well as office and administrative support, are at “high risk” of automation“(Osborne).This article has been used as evidence for higher wages causing workers to lose jobs to automation. However, the use of automation can actually open up jobs for these lower wage workers in the fields of repair and maintenance for these workers, overall creating more jobs. According to David Neumark, there isn’t enough evidence to support a connection between minimum wage and poverty, but in the paper he wrote on the subject, he wrote,”The efficiency of the minimum wage in reaching its intended target has crept up slightly in the past decade, as a by-product of the unfortunate declines in income among near-poor minimum wage workers”(Neumark). They say the evidence isn’t there, but there is enough to prove it could be a valid solution. Overall, there are many reasons that prove raising minimum wage would be better than lowering it. The minimum wage should be raised because it increases economy and job growth, it decreases welfare spending, and it lowers poverty. Minimum wage is especially important for lower level workers who depend on it for their lives. It has the ability to give people better lives if increased correctly. If it was raised, the most likely amount would be $10.10. In regards to losing jobs to machinery because of wages, there are many ways to use this development in order to increase job availability. Raising the minimum wage would improve the lives of many people working in all levels of

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