The Issue Over Minimum Wage

One of the biggest political topics in today's society is the federal minimum wage and whether it should be raised or kept at where it is now at $7.25 an hour. Arguments could be made for both sides on whether it should be raised or left alone. The majority of minimum wage in today’s job market are unskilled positions. Minimum wage jobs were created for teenagers and colleges kids as a way to get into the workforce and to have a little extra money for themselves. It was not designed to be a wage for people to live on. Increasing the minimum wage would hurt the economy by hurting small businesses, a huge loss of jobs and it would increase the competition between teens and adults. Overall if the federal minimum wage is increased it will have many negative effects on the economy.

“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.

The minimum wage debate has been a hot topic over the past year, especially with the Presidential Election. This is a divisive topic that people rarely agree upon. There are essentially two sides you can take when it comes to this argument. Either people are for minimum wage or are against raising, or even having, a minimum wage. Proponents of the minimum wage are typically politicians who are lobbying for the vote of the people who feel that a minimum wage is critical to their wellbeing, and those who sympathize with people who earn “minimum wage”. Minimum wage is destroying America’s free market economy and someone needs to take action and find a better solution to this problem. Without anyone acting on this problem now, it can potentially be worse in the long run. Raising the minimum wage in the United States will do more harm than good to society because of the long-term effects.

Even though having a minimum wage helps in many ways and keeps a minimum to what people can work for, it also can do some harm. The minimum wage law does cost the economy thousands of jobs. The essential principle of economics is supply and demand and the minimum wage aspect goes hand in hand with it. In the sense of labor, this means the amount of workers increases and wages increase, and the demand for employees by employers’ decreases as the wage increases. For instance, if an office cleaning job was publicized for hiring. If the wage was $90 per hour, many people would be interested in taking the job. However, if the income was $2 per hour, there most likely wouldn't be anyone to want the job. On the contrary, if the government obligated the owner to pay at least $9 per

The minimum wage is one of the most controversial issues on our country, which is United States has been facing last ten years. There have been never ending debates over this issue until the government, company, and others party stand together, and raise the minimum wage throughout the nations. There are communities that believe raise the minimum wage has negative impact of every sector of the country. Other communities have different beliefs over the issue, raising the minimum wage helps the poor people, and would help not hurt our economy.

Raising minimum wage has been an ongoing issue for many years. Similar to every debatable issue, pros and cons are inevitable. In the United States, minimum wage started when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) was passed and minimum wage started at 25 cents per hour. The purpose of setting a minimum wage is to set a maximum workweek and to eliminate child labor. It is defined to be the least amount of money employers are obligated to pay their employees by law. As the years passed, the minimum wage began to increase to accommodate the growing economy. Although the wage has increased from a mere 25 cents per hour to $7.25 over the course of 75 years, living expenses are much higher causing many people to be poverty stricken (Debate.org). President Obama proposes raising the minimum wage, so that it would help minimize the income gap in America. However, most business organizations and the Republicans oppose to the idea, saying that it could potentially lead to more economic problems. While both sides have valid points, which one provides a more compelling argument? In the United States, the minimum wage should be raised in every state; therefore workers can have a more comfortable standard of living, lower the poverty line, and minimize the income gap.

Minimum wage is an ongoing debate in the United States. There are some people who think that it should be raised to a higher rate and others who think that it should not. There are many different pros and cons with raising minimum wage. Minimum wage is at a balanced rate that should not be raised due to lack of skill, low education, and economic problems.

One of the hot topics recently in this country is the question, and debate, of should minimum wage be raised? With both sides wildly arguing about raising the minimum wage being good or bad, and the truth behind whether it will do more good than harm to this country. The question still remains with should it be raised?

In other words, raising the minimum wage will clearly result in laying off employees. The advocates of increasing the minimum wage are so innocent to believe that increasing the minimum wage will help them get out of poverty. Nonetheless, it actually does not only help them get more money from their job, but it also make them to be unemployed. Thus, with all that in mind, what would happen if people raise the minimum wage? It’s important to remember though that not all minimum wage increases are the same and a more modest increase to nine dollars like President Obama suggested in the past will obviously have less of an impact on the economy than an increase to $15 like some others are pushing for. Now in terms of projections, if the minimum wage were to increase to ten dollars and ten cents like some politicians have proposed, it is estimated that about 35 millions employees would be getting a raise (Copper). Those numbers sound great, but this optimistic prediction doesn’t take into account the fact that some people might be

Many people argue that we should raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour, but I argue that raising the minimum wage will lower the work-readiness of employees. To start with, if we raise the minimum wage many people will lose their jobs. For example, Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican from Wisconsin, said, “When employers consider hiring people, they are making a decision to ‘buy’ labor. Will employers purchase more labor if it’s priced at $7.25 or at $15 per hour?” (Johnson 23). Simply put, “buying” labor means that employers are paying the employees to come work for them. Additionally, raising the minimum wage to $15 will lower the employee's work

Small business owners in the U.S are very controversial about raising the minimum wage. Even though, most of the small business owners said they do not employ minimum wage workers, half of respondents said the federal minimum wage should be raised while the other half disagrees (Janofsky, A., Josephs, L. (2015). Many cities in The U.S have voted to increase the minimum wage. According to research, many small business owners said they planned to raise wages this year (Janofsky, A., Josephs, L. (2015). Business owners who employed workers making minim wage said they would offer a $1 raise within one year. Overall, about 15% of small business owners said more than half of their workers earned the minimum wage.

Looking out to society there is a nation of job competition. The american dream that any desired individual who wants a job will find one has passed. There’s no denying it. Today this stays only a dream. With innovation increasing exponentially in past decades due to technology there has been a lesser desire for employees; at the sacrifice of jobs for innovation, unemployment is on the rise just while minors enter the labor market seeking employment too. Reaching out for job opportunities there is a mistaken ideology that minors should be paid at minimum wage. Shown time and time again proposed legislature pushing towards hiring the minimum wage has caused detrimental externalities; destroying job opportunities for minors who are new to the

The minimum wage in this country has been a controversial issue. Many people believe it will help reduce poverty and boost the economy. However, they are not looking at the downfalls this will bring to our country. This could make the unemployment population rise, it will raise prices of other things, and would have little effect on reducing poverty. Raising the minimum wage would have a negative influence on our country.

Recently there has been some debate about whether we should raise the minimum wage in America. Now there would be some ups and downs for both of them, but I personally think we should raise it. Mainly because people are barely getting by bill to bill. Plus some people have some kids, they have to take care of and have to buy them food as well. But there would be a risk about the economy and a lot could happen if we just raised maybe if we even raised five dollars. But I have some very key reasons why think we should raise.

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.