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
The federal minimum wage needs to be increased to keep up with inflation. Most wages are increased to keep up with inflation, but those at minimum wage tend not to see one so the employer can cut costs. Fortunately, some states have already fought this by raising their minimum wages to keep up with the cost of living in that area. If the minimum wage was changed with inflation, it would have been $11.16 in January of 2016 (“Should the Federal”). The lack of wage raises, along with the reduction in purchasing power, greatly affects the poor. Obviously, they have much less money to begin with; taking anything away from the poor hurts them greatly. According to Senator Bernie Sanders, “Since 1968, the minimum wage has lost more than 25 percent of its purchasing power (“Should We Raise”).” This loss in purchasing power will only continue. Inflation always
Next, another problem the rise of minimum wage poses is the rise of inflation. If employers are required to pay their employees more, then they need to do something to compensate for the extra money they are losing. With this in mind, employers would have to increase the prices of goods. But sometimes raising prices is not an option for employers. “If a business cannot simply pass along its new labor costs, it must somehow absorb them—by eliminating workers rendered unproductive by the new minimum wage, by replacing labor with more-productive machines, or by cutting production” (Intorduction 2). This brings back the issue of minimum wage causing a dramatic increase in unemployment. Sherk believes it is the wrong time to increase minimum wage, due to the fact that America is currently in a recession. The right time to think about raising minimum wage would be when the unemployment rate drops drastically. Sherk states “In 2007, Congress voted to increase the minimum wage, raising it in three $0.70 increments from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour. The final installment represents a 10 percent increase in the cost of hiring minimum wage employees” (Sherk 1). Seemly inflation and minimum wage increases influence each other.
The controversy over minimum wage has been ongoing. However, as explained in a Time article by Chris Lu on the subject, now is the prime time to raise the federal minimum wage. “Three out of four Americans support an increase; the economy is healthy; and many employers are already raising wages.” It’s reasonable to be worried about the consequences that raising the minimum wage might have in a time of crisis or unrest, but this quote mentions a healthy economy that would be able to handle the shifts in wages if things went south temporarily. Another argument made by opposers of raising the minimum is that businesses will be unable to survive. On the contrary, a good business will find it beneficial. “‘It’s a simple, but critical, concept: take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.’ For &pizza, higher wages reduce employee turnover, increase productivity and improve customer service.” Rather than hurting the economy, raising the minimum wage will help workers, business owners and the economy itself. A higher wage for all is
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.
If the minimum wage goes up the potential of prices being raised are high. In the article “In Washington, D.C., a boost for the bottom line” Gina shaffer talks about raising prices of her products in paragraph 5. If the minimum wage is increased many stores will do the same in addition to letting people go. Another example of this is image A in our packet. The image shows two McDonald's employees enjoying the minimum wage hike, then a single mom with two kids is in the next part unhappy that the price of a happy meal has risen to
The federal minimum wage law was signed in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt in order to keep people out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power. This has done the opposite by hurting businesses and reducing employment, while minimum wages go up, so will the costs of living. Most of the people working for minimum wage are 16 between 24 years old, 37% of workers are going to school working part time. Enrollment tuition has increased over the years, and raising the minimum wage could mean further increasing expenses. But, for people who aren 't pursuing an education and begin working right out of school, the federal minimum wage $7.25 looks like it can be hard to live on. Raising the minimum wage would most likely increase with the cost of living, making cost of living or tuition even more expensive, making it harder to pay for groceries or bills. Just because someone starts out at a minimum wage job, doesn 't mean they can 't progress through the company and earn a better wage over the years. Minimum wages are more for entry level paying jobs that don 't require any certain set of skills to be able to do what they ask. Maintaining the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 will help stop rise of inflation.
The United States economy is still soft and prone to falling apart, and there is a debate that is on going as to whether the minimum wage should be increased or decreased. The minimum wage is a well known price floor, and that is what we need for our economy right now . I personally believe that we should not increase the minimum wage, but decrease it instead. I would rather have the minimum wage lowered than increased because that will only lead to negative side effects. For example, if the minimum wage is increased then the government will need to mint more money and the effect of minting more money is inflation. This will cause the American dollar to go down and worsen the economy even more. Another thought is that what the United States needs now are jobs. If the minimum wage is increased then existing jobs will want their workers to have more experience and for those people that are in dire need to a job will have a lower chance of getting the job because they
According to Jerome Fin minimum wage even at the federal level costs jobs ( Rotson 1). If a recession comes, higher wages will mean more layoffs (Alper 1) Although, this may not happen are you willing to risk it all? If a continuous amount jobs are lost not only will the lower class be affected ,but so will the middle class and upper class. “I feel every minimum wage, even at the federal level costs jobs”(Roston 1). Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says “ The minimum wage is largely an entry - level wage and raising it to ten dollars and ten cents an hour would lead to destroying jobs for young people”(Raasch 16). After, Seattle raised their minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour major problems started occurring. Adam Ozimek says “First wave of minimum wage increases appears to have lead to the loss of over one thousand one hundred food service jobs in Seattle's” (Puzder
A recent study at Purdue University showed that if minimum wage is increased to fifteen dollars an hour, which is what a lot of the people want, then the prices of goods will go up 4.3 percent (McClure). They also determined that if it went up to twenty-two dollars an hour then there would be a twenty-five percent increase in prices (McClure)
Recorded in 2015, average living wage has been recorded at $11.87, as the minimum wage would’ve been if Congress had adjusted it for inflation over the past 35 years. While $7.25 may not seem that bad, when factoring some general expenses. Giving into consideration for the general public the biggest reason the minimum wage should be increased is the dramatic heights which gas prices have been shooting up again. Due to our national situations, gas prices have risen to nearly three dollars a gallon. Say one person were making the minimum wage amount third of their money goes to their gas tank. Unless such person lived precisely close to their job, it’s proven to be very costly. About 7.3 million personnel in the United States would value from an increases in the minimum wage. Almost 5,256,000 of those individuals, around 72%, are authorized drivers that could desperately use financial assistance with the rising prices and inflation. “The federal government is not living up to its responsibility so the states are acting,” (Senator
Some of the individuals concerns are: it would decrease the number of jobs available, increase poverty, and increase price of essentials needed for life. The number of jobs available would not decrease if the minimum wage raised. If the minimum wage raised to $10.10 an hour the economy would rise, resulting in the creation of 85,000 new jobs. There continues to be minuscule evidence of a negative result between raising the minimum wage and employment. The same principle goes along with increasing poverty. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would reduce the number of individuals in poverty by 4.6 million. Most of the individuals in poverty live in rural areas that the government does not see while urban areas receive government programs assistance. The way to reduce poverty in rural areas to raise the minimum wage. Having a higher minimum wage would go further in the country as a whole rather than just urban areas. An increase in the price of essentials has been happening for years while the minimum wage has stayed at $7.25. The minimum wage being raised will not have a substantial effect on increases in prices for everyday necessities. Also, the minimum wage is not inventoried into inflation, the purchasing power has dropped substantially. According to ProCon, “inflation indexing guarantees low-wage workers a wage that keeps the pace with the rising cost of goods and
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
(http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/09/news/economy/jobs_december/) Today, the minimum wage is $9.00 per hour but on January 1, 2016; the wage is going to increase $11 per hour. Some people believe that the solution to this problem is to automatically raise the minimum wage, however doing so would have a profound impact in a negative light on the United States’, businesses, and the
I do not think the government should raise the minimum wage. The graph above shows the demand for McDonalds annually. Demand for McDonalds might go down due to increased prices which is no good for the business. They could be forced to hire fewer employees as a result and can lead to worse customer service. This would be even more detrimental to smaller businesses and make it tougher to find employment as a result. Inflation would be the biggest problem. Thus raising minimum wage could be rendered completely ineffective as many prices for goods would go up as a result. The argument that is often made that raising could make the wages more livable for the lower class. Due to increased/inflated prices this would not be the case. Smaller businesses