The Advantages Of Raising Minimum Wage

One of the biggest negative effects of raising the minimum wage is that it would severely hurt small businesses. If the minimum wage were to be raised it would force the owners to pay their employees more money that they might not have. In order to pay the employees the newly raised minimum wage they are gonna have to raise the prices which will lead to the loss of consumers, and might eventually lead to the store going out of business. According to a Gallup poll done in 2013, 60 percent of small-business owners said that raising minimum wage will “hurt small business owners. James Richardson, MBA, Vice President of the fast food chain White Castle, said that the company would be forced to close

“A 15 percent increase in the minimum wage nationwide would destroy about 290,000 to 590,000 young people's jobs, and about 400,000 to 800,000 jobs overall” (Henderson, David R). Due to the Fair labor Standards act, the federal minimum wage, or the lowest you can pay an employee for work, currently stands at $7.25 an hour. Although a number of Americans think that raising the minimum wage would benefit our country, it would actually bring a number of problems to our economy, such as a rise in job loss and high school dropout.

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.

Raising minimum wage has been a debate for quite some time now. President Roosevelt started minimum wage in 1938. When minimum wage was first set, Roosevelt had set minimum wage at $0.25 an hour. Since then, minimum wages had gradually increased to $7.25 an hour and has not been risen since July 2009. According to an article on ProCon.org, “congress has increased federal minimum wage 22 times.” When making such a decision, pros and cons should be weighed. People should also remember that minimum wage may be different from state to state. For Example, Michigan is where I’m from and minimum wage has increased to $8.90, as of January 1, 2017. Other examples include; California at $10.50, Arizona at $10.00, and Massachusetts at $11.00. Because everyone has different feelings about whether to raise minimum wage, weighing the Pros and Cons is very important for congress in making the right decision. For the citizens of the United States and for their future. I believe that the Pros outweigh the Cons.

There are many pros to increasing the minimum wage, most of which are simple enough to understand and make someone think that there is no reason not to increase the minimum wage. The first and most important benefit of increasing the minimum wage is that workers are able to work to earn a living wage, a wage that is high enough that workers are able to maintain a normal standard of living. Next in line is that a higher minimum wage will increase workers incentive to work, and also increase the incentive of the population not in the labor force to join the labor force and seek jobs. Going off that point, increasing the minimum wage will reduce the need for social programs, such as unemployment, welfare, SNAP, etc., because there will be fewer people living at or below the poverty line and that qualify for these programs. Moving along the list of advantages, increasing the minimum wage will also increase the amount of money workers

The minimum wage is basically the lowest an employer can give there worker an hour, and abide by the labor laws. In most states the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, but in California and Massachusetts the wages there is $10.00 per hour. Senator Bernie Sander agreed to living in poverty with the wage set at $7.25 per hour, and that if he made it into the office that he would introduce a bill to raise the wages all over to $15.00 per hour. The benefit of raising the wages would help low income families throughout the economy, and help with unemployment. Overall, this is based on our President and Congress whether a law like that can be passed.

John Komlos reports that “[I]f adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage of 1968 would be $10.90 today”, enforcing the idea that the minimum wage has been decreasing over time (2015). He also writes that “…the unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in 1968 with a higher real minimum wage”, compared to the 5% unemployment rate today for an even lower minimum wage (Komlos, 2015). However, the industry has grown along with this development and it would take a lot of effort to reverse it to the initial stages. John Wihbey put the focus on a report that if the minimum wage increases, “[p]rices at those businesses could increase by an estimated 4.3 percent…” and refers to a study from Prude University (2016). This would more likely happen as the business have to increase their annual income to pay its workers at a high rate. The business will also start to fire people if cannot pay them, which in turn will increase the unemployment rate. He gives a short example that if the minimum wage is raised to $10.10, around half a million will lose their job, but 16.5 million will gain from that higher wage, so it would benefit some while hurting others

Raising minimum wage has become one of today’s most popular issues to debate. Minimum wage has not grown along with inflation throughout the years and it has caused many people to fall into poverty in the United States. But what is Minimum wage? It is the minimum pay a worker is entitled to for their labor. Meaning that it is illegal for employers to pay a worker less than the minimum with the exception of a few jobs like waitressing. On July 24, 2019 the The Federal Government set minimum wage at $7.25 per hour. Although some states have established their own minimum wage standards most conform to the Federal mandate.

One advantage of raising the minimum wage is the economic stimulus which can lead to an increase in job opportunities. If minimum wage workers can spend more, then businesses can earn more and therefore will need to hire more employees to keep up with the rise in business. Another advantage is the reduced expense for social programs. Many of the people earning the minimum wage are also those relying on the support of government run social programs. With higher wages, many people would be able to support themselves without heavily relying on social programs, which would lead to lower taxes or a reallocation of the funds to support other needs. Many employees who are comfortable and satisfied with their wages are less likely to quit, so an increase in minimum

Minimum wage introduced by the congress as the subdivision of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) in 1938. At that time, congress set the minimum wage at 25 cents an hour. According to Tricia Hussung, Business Analyst, in 1968, adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage

In modern day society, there has been a present minimum wage of $7.25 since 2010.

A higher minimum wage is deleterious to the fragile American economic system. Raising the minimum wage is often cast as a necessity to ensure that employees are able to earn a decent living. But it’s also a complicated issue that goes beyond those who clean bathrooms, flip burgers, and bag groceries. It´s implications directly affect business owners and how their businesses are run. A higher minimum wage is detrimental to the economy because it devalues the dollar bill, is bad for small businesses, and causes severe increases in unemployment.

Although there are more people who will have their wages raised, the amount of people who lose their jobs will have a greater negative impact on the economy. Those people who are losing their jobs would be replaced with cheaper alternatives, especially those who work in grocery stores. "Grocery stores would use self checkout systems instead of workers" (Edwards, 2016). Self checkout systems replacing workers means there will be machines put in place for human jobs. This has already happened in many cases and people have lost their jobs due to robots or machinery. Increasing the minimum wage would only push for the need to replace humans with machinery or robots which would leave even more people without a job. In order to ensure that the hardworking men and women do not lose their jobs due to the need for money for wages, then the minimum wage should not be raise to fifteen dollars an

Some argue that increasing the minimum wage will help improve the economy and benefit employers and employees, but it will have the opposite effect. It would be a heavy burden on small business owners; due to low income it would be very hard to have a great amount of employees if minimum wage shall be raised. Unemployment will likely to increase to 9% due to the money crisis and "When legislators raise the price of low and unskilled labor, it's usually low and unskilled laborers who end up paying the price" (Boston Globe). Also the government has not yet proven that increasing minimum wage will lower the poverty rate. Multiple studies demonstrated little or no relationship between a higher minimum wage and a reduction in poverty. On the other hand decreasing the minimum wage has been argued, but decreasing minimum wage can represent an expense that a small business may not be able to afford. Small businesses will attempt to get more production from existing staff and new employees paying them a lower wage which will do no justice to poverty but will increase company's payout. It will also be very hard for single family homes and lower educated people to survive and make ends meet if the government decreases minimum wage. Iit would also hurt small business owners for they could not be able to afford to run which conclude to

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