Should The Minimum Wage Be Decreased

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.

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.

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.

The issue of the minimum wage has recently come to the forefront of the debate on social policy. There is much disagreement over the wisdom of an increase in the minimum wage in the current fragile economic recovery. Some argue that a dramatic increase is what is needed in order to lift the standard of living for those in the bottom of the economic pyramid. Economists reason that the basic principle of supply and demand mandates than an increase in the wage would result in the loss of available jobs. Small businesses maintain that it would spell their doom.

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

The current minimum wage is $7.25, which equals two gallons of milk, one fast food meal or two gallons of gas. Can you imagine yourself working 12-hours a day and only having enough money to pay for rent and put food on the table for your family? With working all those long hours, you can barely afford to pay your utility bills and after that you don’t have enough money or time for luxuries like clothing or vacation. You have no savings as matter of fact, you are in a huge debt and you are living paycheck to paycheck. This is the story of millions of American worker, who are employed on minimum wage. The shocking part about this story is that million of Americans would be saved from this poverty life, if the American government raises the minimum wage. This would not only help the workers, but also the economy because raising the minimum wage would put extra money in the pocket of minimum wage worker and extra spending would help restore consumer spending.

The current federal minimum wage is too low to allow people to earn a living wage and has failed to keep up with increases in inflation, productivity and economic growth in recent years. Wages have been fixed at $7.25 an hour since 2009, resulting in a 40 hour work week that allows one to earn only $15,000 a year, an amount that lies just barely above the poverty line (13). If the worker is responsible for children and works full-time to earn this amount, they drop below the poverty line. These low

In the United States, the minimum wage was passed during the Great Depression in 1938 to protect the buying power of normal workers in a period in which the “unemployment rate was still a very high 19 percent” (Sklar, 2009, p. 1). Since that time, there has been significant debate about the controversial topic of raising the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage law was created to eliminate unfair practices of sweat shops and manufacturing companies during this time period. Thus, the minimum wage is defined as the smallest salary that an employer is legally allowed to pay employees for their work. Since the time of the Great Depression, minimum wage has been utilized to guarantee that employees are paid

Should America’s minimum wage be raised from $7.25 all the way to $15 an hour? Many are for raising it because they say it will decrease the amount of families living uncomfortably in poverty struggling to pay rent, feed their children, and make ends meet. But those who are against it, say it will increase the amount of businesses going bankrupt and will drive unemployment sky high. Critics of minimum wage say that minimum wage should be changed to living wage which will take the economy into account and would provide families with enough to live a comfortable lifestyle. Raising minimum wage in the United States to $15 an hour would be a bad idea for three reasons, earnings per share in even large stores would plummet, it would drive unemployment to an all-time high, and it will not take the economy into account.

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.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly 14% of the nation lives below the poverty line, the current population is 326,474,013, and 45,706,362 of the population lives in poverty every single day. One of the reasons why such a large chunk of the population is in poverty is because they are not being paid a reasonable salary for them to support themselves and their families. Raising the minimum wage can lead to problems, but gradual increases are made over time, it could be beneficial for millions of people around the nation. The positive effects of raising minimum wage is what makes it worth it. A raise in minimum wage can be beneficial; however, it must be a

While in theory, it may seem like increasing the minimum wage to 10$ will raise the standard of living by providing households with more money; in reality, this plan will backfire. According to www.forbes.com, about 60% of those below the poverty line are unemployed. We see from this that the majority of those who are living below the poverty line do not have jobs; increasing the minimum wage will not help

One of the most acrimoniously debated problems in American society today is the debate over the minimum wage. The minimum wage, established in 1938 by President Roosevelt, was made to be a safety net for people who provided unskilled labor, but also needed to provide for themselves. Up until that point, people had no guarantee that they would be paid. The minimum wage was quite literally one of the only lines of defense unskilled workers had in harsh times, such as near the end of the Great Depression. In today’s society, the minimum wage is still a means by which unskilled workers can provide for themselves, but many people have lost track of what it originally meant. The minimum wage is no longer specifically meant for people in dire need, having to take the first job they find. People now perceive it to be something into which they can settle, even in today’s society, where opportunities for hard workers to be promoted are frequent and encouraged. Despite the chances people have to seek out promotions, most $15 minimum wage proponents believe that they are entitled to having the minimum wage increased because they believe it would put them at a “livable wage” and that businesses owe them higher pay because of the cash flows they generate. As a federally mandated expense to businesses, it is critical for people to consider the possible negative outcomes of trying to forcibly make businesses, whether large or small, pay an increased minimum wage as drastic as $15. Not only will it negatively affect the U.S. economy, but it will also put minimum wage workers at the same level of disadvantage, if not more.

Rahn, Richard W. "The Misery Of The Minimum Wage; Government-Mandated Pay Levels Hit Inexperienced Workers Hardest". Washington Times (Washington DC) 2013: n. pag. Print.

“Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do, but it makes for good business”-Jim Sinegal, CEO of Costco. Many of America’s employees are not being paid well, however, for the annual income of a full-time employee who works year-round is less than $16,000 (about $15, 080) according to the current federal minimum wage (Rebuilding). To put into retrospect how out-dated the federal minimum wage is, consider that the minimum wage of 1956 amounted to exactly $7.93 in 2009 (Henderson). How progressive is it that our nation’s workers being paid less today than workers from the 50’s? The federal minimum wage should be raised in order to assist families out of poverty, to ensure the effort and loyalty of workers, and