The Benefits Of Raising The Minimum Wage

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.

Franklin Roosevelt introduced minimum wage as a part of Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. The purpose of minimum wage were to prevent poverty and to stimulate the economy by increasing consumer’s purchasing power. However, in 2015, 78.2 million workers were paid hourly, representing 58.5% of all workers in the United States. Among those people, 870,000 workers earned the minimum wage, $7.25 per hour and 1.7 million workers earned below the minimum. In total, 3.3% of workers earned exactly or below the minimum wage. For years, there have been heated debates about whether the government should raise the minimum wage. In 2016, California, New York, and Washington D.C. agreed to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Some people think raising the minimum wage will decrease poverty and improve the workers living. Instead, raising the minimum wage will make the job market more competitive and it will increase the poverty level. When minimum wage was raised to $10 per hour, it benefited 16 to 24 million people while half a million workers lost their job. Rather than improving, Faces of $15 will damage the U.S economy and deeply hurt living condition of Americans.

For many years, there has been an ongoing and strong debate in the United States on whether or not minimum wage should be raised from $7.25 an hour to over $10.00 an hour. Minimum wage is the lowest amount a company or employer can pay their employees. Many argue that the benefits of raising minimum wage surpass the negatives, yet many also disagree. But as a whole, the benefits of a higher minimum wage clearly outweigh the costs that come with it. Minimum wage should be raised because it would increase economic activity, reduce poverty levels, and allow for less government spending.

On July 24th, 2009, the United States of America raised the minimum wage to $7.25. However, six years later the minimum wage rage remains the same. It is time once again for the federal government to raise the minimum wage to spur the economy. Raising the minimum wage would help the American economy and the daily life of the citizens for a variety of reasons. The first topic is that it not only would help the people but it also would help the economy as a whole. The second topic is that companies are already raising the minimum wage because of the lack of money workers get. Finally the third supporting idea is that the states are also raising it over the federal minimum wage and also how can help poverty. There are many more topics on why the minimum wage should be raised but these reasons are the most important.

The topic of increasing in the federal minimum wage has been hotly debated in Congress and between politicians and activists since the most recent increase to $7.25 in 2009. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 proposed a $10.10 federal minimum wage increase but failed in Congress, while a more recent proposition, the 2016 Raise The Wage Act, hopes to put wages at $12 per hour by the year 2020 (14). Propositions like these seek to allow lower-income working families to earn a living wage but they have faced resistance by conservatives. Stagnation of wages has caused various cities and states to spearhead minimum wage increases at a local level, with twenty-nine states now having wages higher than the federal minimum (13). Raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour would correct for years of deteriorating wage values and would pull hard-working families out of poverty while lessoning income inequality and boosting the economy from the bottom up with minimal costs to businesses.

In a 2015 survey conducted by The New York Times and CBS News, 71% of people surveyed believed the minimum wage should be raised to $10.10 (Should The Federal). The minimum wage has been increased by congress 22 times since 1938 and was last updated to $7.25 on July 24, 2009 (Minimum Wage). 3.3% of workers in the United States get paid the minimum wage or lower (Background of). A federal minimum wage hike would lower poverty levels, decrease spending on government assistance, and increase productivity in jobs.

Should minimum wage be increased? Passage one strongly supports and gives details on why minimum wage should be raised. Many workers are asking for a national minimum wage increase to $15 per hour, while others say that a higher minimum wage will stifle business and ultimately hurt the economy. So, should the minimum wage be increased or not? The federal minimum wage was introduced in 1938 during the Great Depression under President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was initially set at $0.25 per hour and has been increased by Congress 22 times, most recently in 2009 when it went from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. 29 states plus the District of Columbia (DC) have a minimum wage higher than the federal minimum wage. 2,561,000 workers earn the federal minimum wage or below.

The minimum wage in the United States has been an ongoing controversy for many years now. The first minimum wage was established in 1938 (Reich, 2015, P. 3). That minimum wage started out at .25 cents an hour; compared to today’s higher wage of a government standard of $7.25 an hour. Many people believe that the minimum wage should be more so that those who live below the poverty level in the United States will decrease, however in many other people’s opinions the minimum wage should be the same. The minimum wage should stay the same at a low $7.25.

The minimum wage has been around since the Great Depression in 1938 under the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Initially, the government set the minimum wage at $0.25 per hour to now $7.25 an hour, although some states decide to have a lower rate than the national rate or have no minimum at all. The heated debate over raising the national rate of the minimum wage has been on everybody’s lips since there was the question of whether to alter the rate or not. I support the raising of minimum wage because of the fact that raising the minimum wage would improve the income of people in poverty and economy of America. For the same reason, raising the minimum wage would lift the incomes of about 18 million hard-working people.

Since 1938 the federal government for the United States of America has set the minimum wage. The laws were put in place to prevent employers from taking advantage of workers and paying a person less than the mandated amount per hour. At this point the minimum wage has not been increased since 2009 and it is only $7.25 per hour. This means that a person working full time will only gross $15,080 per year, an amount that is well below the poverty line. It is time to raise the minimum wage for several reasons: First, if you take in to account inflation, a person making minimum wage today is making less than a person who made minimum wage in 1968. The minimum wage in 1968 was equal to about $8.68 in 2016 dollars. Second, people earning a good wage is not only good for the worker and his or her family, it is good for society. And finally, raising the minimum wage will act as a stimulus for the economy.

There has been great controversy on the federal minimum wage rate in the United States. Many argue that it should be raised to $15 to compensate people that are forced to provide for their family with a minimum wage salary. Others argue that raising the minimum wage will harm the economy, causing business to lay off workers and create an increase in prices. While both sides are valid, the latter is correct to an extent.

Now after raising the minimum wage to $7.25 six years ago, there has been a great deal of inflation between then and now that has pushed the issue of raising it once again. This particular issue has led to a serious debate that has divided economists into a 50/50 on going disagreement. Since there are already so many problems with the current minimum wage and even more problems that can occur if it was to be increased economist have taken many different aspects into consideration. About half of the economist studying this issue believe that while increasing the minimum wage can be beneficial, the current $7.25 minimum wage should not be increased due to the reasons

“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

One of the most frequently asked questions in our country seem to be should the minimum wage be raised or should it be lowered or eliminated altogether. From where I stand minimum wage should be raised. Everyone is more successful when people are paid a living wage. Changes to the minimum wage would strengthen the economy and business, Lift Americans out of poverty, and will be unlikely to significantly impact prices. The only way to grow the economy in a way that benefits 90% is to change the structure of the economy. Paying people a fair wage is a sign of respect and acknowledgment of the value of people's contributions to the business. The minimum wage should be raised because it would reduce poverty, it is unlikely to significantly

The “federal minimum wage has remained the same at $7.25 an hour since 2009” (“DeSilver, Drew”). To many people, it seems like eight years is way too long to wait for the minimum wage to go up. This is the longest time for the minimum wage to increase since 1981 to 1990 where it took nine years for the wage to increase by .40 cents going from $3.35 to $3.80 (“Wage and Hour Division (WHD)”). Other than that, minimum wage increases usually took anywhere between 1 to 5 years. But to be fair, it has changed a lot since the original .25 cents back in 1938 when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 was created. The minimum wage has increased “22 separate times over the course of the last 78 years” (“UC Davis Center for Poverty Research”). Also, the “wage now covers approximately 130 million workers or 84 percent of the labor force” unlike when it was first created and only covered “20 percent of the labor force” (“UC Davis Center for Poverty Research”). The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 or FLSA not only created the minimum wage but also created other federal protections like “overtime pay for the time worked