The Effects Of Minimum Wage

My topic of interest is the effects of raising minimum wage in the U.S. Minimum wage is defined as the lowest wage permitted by law or by special agreement. In 1938, President Roosevelt signed a bill called the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, which set the minimum wage at $0.25. Although, overtime inflation devalued the amount of the dollar so it was raised there on. After raising the minimum wage the cost of living would keep going up every year. Also, currently advocates are arguing that the living wage should be 125% above the poverty line so that full time workers can afford a living.

In a world governed by the rule of currency has a major effect toward the amount an individual owns. The current world economy, labor is required in order to supply services to whomever is willing to buy. The amount of money distributed and earned throughout the economy feeds the nation 's GDP, which shows the stability of the overall economy of that nation. There is an imaginary sequence that must be established in an economy in order to balance both labor and revenue to stabilize a country’s economy.

The federal minimum wage has been in effect since The Great Depression. Recently, it has become a hotly contested issue. Should it be raised or not? The issue is a complicated one because some believe that more harm will come than good and many believe this because majority of people are misinformed on the impact raising minimum wage can have on the American economy and families. According to Cato Institute’s article on Reasons Not to Raise the Minimum Wage, the important or more discussed problems that are argued by antagonist are job loss, higher prices for consumers, and the little effect on reducing poverty. Although these problems seem significant, protagonist will say the war against poverty and income

The idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers and allow workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address, and after this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the pro side and the con side of increasing the minimum wage, but also alternatives to increasing it.

Imagine standing over a scorching grill for hours, taking care of the elderly, both lifting and transporting heavy loads, basically doing back breaking work; only to be making less than $8 and hour. That is the reality for millions of people in the work force who are earning minimum wage. Whether or not minimum wage should be raised has been a question many people have been discussing for years and has become quite controversial. Those opposed to increased minimum wages would argue that a minimum wage salary is already sufficient enough, or in some cases even “too high”. In spite of the opposing sides, it is almost certain that a rise in minimum wage will either positively or negatively affect several aspects of the country. For one, an increase in minimum wage could result in an economic shift. Furthermore, the current poverty level within the country, with the help of a higher minimum wage, would either decrease or as a result. Thirdly, a change in poverty levels caused by a higher minimum wage would ultimately change the amount of government spending and those who receive it. Minimum wage being raised would definitely be impactful not only the people receiving those minimum waged salaries, but also the economy, their families, and even the government funding.

The first minimum wage law was implemented in New Zealand and Australia in the late 1900s. In 1940s, George J. Stigler founded the first standard model of minimum wage. The model predicts that the minimum wage system. It set above equilibrium wage level, would create unemployment because some previously employed labors lose their jobs while some find it is not worthwhile to work at the minimum wage that is above competitive wage (Stigler, 1946, p. 361). Ehrenberg and Smith define the minimum wage as a policy that compels the employers to increase wages paid to all low-wage employees (2006). According to Lee, minimum wage is the minimum level of payment recognized by law for work performed (Lee, 2002, p.1). However, the fact remains that a minimum wage has social and economic effects, the dynamics that will be discussed in this paper.

Minimum wage is the topic I chose because there has been a controversy regarding raising minimum wage and the impact of minimum wage to the society. Whether it would aid workers or not. There have been arguments of laypersons of increasing minimum wage to a very high level and there are arguments against it.

Who is hurt and who is helped by an increase in the legal minimum wage?

During the past five years or so, the minimum wage in the United States (U.S.) have been a topic of interest for many parties. On one side, the parties that oppose an increase in the minimum wage believe that an increase will spark an epidemic of high unemployment rates. On the other side, the parties are asking for an increase in the minimum wage for many other reasons, including help lower the poverty levels, afford health insurance and higher education among other needs. Throughout the U.S., the inequality of wages and compensation have been a problem for some time. Despite the large, diverse workforce in the country, the policies that govern the minimum wage should be revamped so that all workers are equally compensated.

Who gets paid the minimum wage? Well, at some point in our lives we all have been paid the minimum wage. But who are those people earning the minimum wage right at this moment? These are the people who have menial jobs. They work in restaurants, retail stores, bars, and maintenance services (OEA, 9). In 2014, the city of San Francisco proposed an initiative indicating that it would raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018 (Ballotpedia). So would a typical low-wage worker and low-income family benefit significantly from a minimum wage increase? It would probably help them but not that significantly. In today’s economic standing, people earning the minimum wage are considered below the poverty level if living in San Francisco. In my opinion, the minimum wage increase will give a slight rise to the quality of life for those working on minimum wage as well as their families and could potentially result in narrowing the income inequality gap for workers.

In 1938, the first national minimum wage laws in the United States were passed as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act, which served as “a floor below wages,” to reduce poverty and to ensure that economic growth is shared across the workforce. Today, many people who work for companies that pay at or near the minimum wage and remain near or below the poverty level rely on government health and food security and income programs to supplement their living expenses. Since 1938, there have been many additional policies to the Fair Labor Standards Act that have changed many things, such as increasing the national minimum wage numerous times to the currently salary level, which was set in 1997. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007, from the United States Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, was a policy to change the federal minimum wage from $5.15 to $7.25 in three additions, which began in July of 2009. (U.S., 2009).

The fight for a higher minimum wage has been going on for a long time. People are demanding it to be $15 an hour. Although raising the minimum wage seems like it would be amazing, there are a lot of negatives with it. With the economic theory, we can see the effects of raising minimum wage on the economy.

Suzanne perry discusses the effects of increasing minimum wage and how many organization take advantage of the system. She goes from a charity organization point of view, and explain how political leaders, especially republicans have blocked a minimum wage increase bill. Furthermore, states provide a budget for non profit organizations and by increasing the minimum wage the service and funding for nonprofit organizations will decrease This whole process will depend on state reimbursement.

They do pay a living wage. There is this gentleman named Jacob Lund Fisker. He has a blog Early Retirement Extreme (http://earlyretirementextreme.com)

The idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the advantages and the disadvantages of increasing the minimum wage, but also the alternatives to increasing it.