The Effects Of Raising Minimum Wage On The United States

Ira Knight, who is an author of article “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, expresses an opinion that increasing the minimum wage would help all struggling workers and at the same time improve U.S economy. On the other side, Janice Steele in her article “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is” argues that raising the minimum wage would have bad effects on workers, consumers and small businesses. Ira Knight’s article seems to be the stronger of the two positions because her arguments are based on several recent studies, and last but not least, she had a personal experience with the minimum wage job.

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.

One source from the Opposing Viewpoints Database called, “Raising Minimum Wage Increases Unemployment” argues against the minimum wage by suggesting it will decrease financial security and cause higher unemployment rates. The author provides unemployment statistics from the 1990s onward as evidence to argue against the minimum wage. The article says, “In 1990, Congress enacted another minimum wage increase.” “The month before the increase took effect, unemployment was 5.2%.” “With the increase, unemployment began to steadily increase and unemployment eventually peaked at 7.8%” (Jaarda). The article emphasizes to readers that increases in minimum wages and following increases in unemployment are not just coincidences by continuingly pointing at similar statistics throughout history.

Our entire society in the United States is complicating whether or not our nation should raise the federal minimum wage. Ranging from researchers who have been studying this incompatible topic throughout their entire lives to amateurs who simply expose their opinions without any logical reasoning to the public are still not able to come to an agreement for a stable minimum wage. Many citizens may assume that increasing the minimum wage, $7.25, an hour, by a couple dollars may not make a significant impact to our economy. However, there still coexists a complex reason behind this whole topic that is currently disabling our society to contemplate on a solution. Generally, most traditionalists who believe that increasing the minimum wage may hurt the young and unskilled workers in an economical perspective. On the other hand, a vast majority of researchers may believe that this opportunity wouldn’t kill jobs and may even give the economy a boost by allowing more low-income workers to spend more on necessities. This controversial issue may be the only fire that will never die out in the United State’s economical history.

In 2008 the United states came into recession due to many factors. Based on the article, the minimum wage should be raised. Ever since that meeting many economists have proposed different plans to solve this issue. One of these solutions for this particular issue is to raise the minimum wage. This would affect the economy, workers, and job growth which will follow in need of help. This plan would help, but there has been research that has gone against the solution stating that there is more cost than the overall benefit. There are still discussions to this day for if which they should raise the minimum wage.

The article I have been working on this week is about minimum wage. My article informs its readers that the minimum wage may be raised by 2020. It also tells why states have already taken actions into there own hands by voting for the minimum to be $9.75 in Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Alaska. The Last thing it talks about is the possible outcome of raising the federal minimum wage. There has been tons of debate about this current situation in the U.S. One side wants the minimum to be raised and the other sides wants it to stay the same. I am going to give you a view of both sides so you can understand where they come from.

Proponents of raising the minimum wage claim that if the minimum wage was raised, then many economic and social problems would be alleviated. This contention is at odds both with economic principles and years of creditable research. The effect of raising or even having a minimum wage has been studied extensively and the majority of studies have proven that raising a minimum wage does not have the desired effect. Both micro and macroeconomic forces affect the results of raising the minimum wage. The secondary effects of raising the minimum wage are bad both for

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.

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).

There have been many questions raised about increasing the minimum wage in the United States but not many people have the knowledge to understand how their lives will be affected. People are more concerned about increasing the minimum wage into living wage. Everyone should be educated and have concerns about the politics of raising minimum wage to a living wage.

They added that an increase in the minimum wage creates two critical issues; 1) the rise in employers’ cost; 2) the decrease in high school completion. While this study differs from the one in this paper, it does raise a valid argument, which relates to the one in this study. An increase in the minimum wage does not have an increase in teen unemployment, non-completion of high school students, nor decrease the poverty level. Additional studies included that there are two sides to every argument, the yeas and the nays. The yeas says that the increase in minimum wage helps increase lower wage workers income; while the nays say that, an increase in minimum wage will hurt the lower income workers due increase in unemployment (Todorovic & Ma, 2008). They also explained, that results in their study suggests that an increase in the minimum wage lowers the impact of teen unemployment rates. This is another valid argument which coincide with the result in this study. This paper reemphasize that an increase in the minimum wage will not decrease the poverty level; however, it will show a decrease in teen unemployment and an increase high school

As stated, “...the minimum wage increases have put an extra $1 billion into workers’ pockets, according to The Fairness Project, a non-profit organization that helped lead the ballot proposals last year. By the end of the year, that figure will rise to $3 billion” (Source A). Increasing minimum wage even just by a dollar, could help workers tremendously throughout their everyday lives. This could help the economy because low wage workers would have extra money, causing them to invest in more things. Also, “A raise in the federal minimum wage would also increase the number of Americans living in the 10th percentile income bracket. And these are just the short term effects...Over time, this 39% increase in the federal minimum wage would result in a reduction of impoverished people by 6.8 million” (Source B). Many Americans will be living with a suitable income. This will help improve a decrease impoverishment in America. Lastly, roughly 1,408 workers who are 25 years or older, 1,013 are below minimum wage (Source C). An enormous amount of low wage workers who are only limited to a high school education, are being paid below the federal minimum wage. This could make financial living extremely difficult for

Many of theses factions are very ignorant against the idea of increasing the minimum wage; they aren’t willing to look at the big picture. Therefore, my view hasn’t been affected much by this source, for everything here seems selfish and more egocentric when it comes to the debate of minimum wage. Despites all of it major flaw, the article contributed a lot of opposing viewpoints that are very informative when I’m trying to answer my research questions how minimum wage will affect the

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

In a paper titled “Four Reasons Not to Increase the Minimum Wage,” the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, offers four empirically backed consequences of increasing the minimum wage; these consequences include: the loss of jobs, low skilled workers being disproportionally affected and priced out of the job market, a minimal effect on reducing poverty, and higher prices for goods. The paper compiles a number of studies to support these