The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised Essay

As John Wihbey states in his article “Minimum Wage: Updated research roundup on the effects of increasing pay” if the Fair Labor Standards Act were to have increased at the same rate as inflation the minimum wage would be around $10.00 per hour. This article is once again stating that the minimum wage should be increased. Yes, I do find that increasing by nearly $3.00 per hour is a little outrageous but, I do feel that the minimum wage could see a slight increase to around $8.00 or $9.00 per

The action of raising the federal minimum wage has been cast as a necessary change for the United States, and would result in ensuring that America’s workers are able to receive a reasonable living.Though the controversial issue has turned more complex, with many implications beyond just those who bag groceries, flip burgers, and clean offices. The issue is believed to have various pros and cons, and consequently sparking the ongoing debate on to, or to not change to wage.

A reoccurring topic in most political debates is whether minimum wage should be raised or not. Many say $7.25 is simply not enough for a family to survive in our economy. President Obama has taken a strong stance on this topic encouraging congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour considering we live in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Obama argues that one working full time can simply not afford to raise a family on $15,000 a year. Typically, Democrats will side with our president and argue that raising the wage is a good idea, white Republicans will disagree saying minimum wage will destroy business and hurt working class families. Some may see this as a political issue, but I say this topic is simply common sense. Minimum wage should not be raised due to higher labor costs and a higher volume of unemployment.

. Burkhauser found no evidence that minimum wage increases were effective at lowering overall poverty rates or poverty rates among workers. Even by targeting populations that raising the minimum wage was supposed to protect, such as less educated single mothers, Burkhauser confirms that minimum wage increases did little to alleviate poverty for less educated single mothers as well. Additionally, David Neumark of the University of California-Irvine and William Wascher of the Federal Reserve Board analyzed family-specific flows in and out of poverty as a result of an uptick in the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher used current population survey data and found that when the minimum wage was increased some workers were lifted out of poverty, but others lost their jobs and found themselves in poverty as a result of raising the minimum wage. Neumark and Wascher’s findings suggest that minimum wage hikes only redistribute income among the poor and near-poor households. Only junior high school dropouts seem

Since the discussion of the raise in minimum wage has been popular for some time now, it is a topic frequently discussed by politicians. One politician who has a strong opinion about the topic, is Bernie Sanders. Sanders feels that there are millions of Americans who are working for an inadequate wage. He believes that the current minimum wage is “starvation pay” and that $15 an hour is needed. By raising the wage, it will also be possible to establish an equal pay for women and other minorities (Sanders 1). In an article for PBS, Simone Pathe reminds those doing research on the topic that each piece of data can be seen in either a positive or a negative way depending on the way they are portrayed in the piece. In many articles, it is argued that minimum wage workers are generally under the age of 25. In this article, Pathe finds through the Economic Policy Institute that the average age of minimum wage workers is 35 and a full-time worker. This group of minimum wage workers would be those who are helped by raises in minimum wage, with 88% of this population over 20 years old. Another advantage that Pathe finds with the minimum wage raise is the economic benefits that would follow. Studies find that it would be better for businesses if minimum wage workers had more money. A raise to $10 per hour would

More than 45 percent of respondents in a 2000 survey of members of the American Economic Association said they ''mainly agreed'' that minimum wages increased unemployment among young and unskilled workers. But over the last few decades there have been several increases in federal and state minimum wages, with little impact on the level of employment. This has led economists in the last decade to reconsider the link between wages and jobs at the bottom.

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.

The Democrats and the independents were in favor of increasing the federal minimum wage, but the Republicans were evenly split about that proposal. The efforts to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour have stalled but Los Angeles, New York state to Washington, D.C. have started to act on their own to raise the minimum wage rates. In order to achieve a good balance in income distribution, the government try to stop the rich from getting richer and the poor from getting poorer. This is the way the federal and state governments balance income distribution and keep the minimum wages laws the way they are. Another study examined how teenage employment and school enrollment changed after states raised their minimum wage (Neumark and Wascher, 1996). The minimum wage determines what the employers can pay for labor. An increase in job loss is a reason for not increasing the minimum wage in New Jersey. “Los Angeles lawmakers Tuesday voted to boost the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020, the largest city to try to help its lowest paid workers survive amid the nation’s growing income inequality” (Winter, USA

While it may be easier to say that the reason workers cannot support their families is that they do not work enough hours, full time workers working for minimum wage can also not afford to survive efficiently in this economy. The Times Editorial Board from the La Times states, “A full-time minimum-wage worker with one dependent barely makes enough today to stay above the federal poverty line of $15,510 a year. But most minimum-wage workers don't have the luxury of full-time positions.” If the government does not ensure that enough full time work is available for workers who need those hours to support their family, they should at least ensure that the minimum wage be enough to compensate for that lack of work. However, this is not currently the case. Between the low minimum wage and an already low amount of hours available to workers, the results are fewer positions that will allow people to comfortably support their

In the 1960’s, a full time worker could lift a family out of poverty if they earned the minimum wage. In today’s day and age, that minimum wage salary would be about $10.86 per hour. For the longest time, our minimum wage salary was under the $10.00 mark, but in January of 2016, it finally got raised to that price. In November of 2013, President Barack Obama had mentioned that if the minimum wage was raised to at least $10.00 per hour, it would help 4 million Americans, and also reduce our poverty level, and increase the

This academic journal that I found points out that these “millions” of minimum wage workers turns out to be only 633,000. Statistics Canada states that of the 633,000 (less than half of what Premier Wynn stated) 60 percent of these people are teenager or youth aged 15 - 24 and of that 60 percent, 85 percent live at home or with family. Another interesting statistic is that 19 percent of the minimum wage earners have a spouse that earns more than the minimum wage. And one last statistic, two percent of the overall minimum wage numbers, are single parents with young children.

Increasing the minimum wage helps people, right? That is the topic of discussion in the recent discourse held by Professor Joe Silverman. With so many differing opinions it was a topic that needed to be addressed. The listeners, most of whom had minimum wage jobs, were exuding anticipation as this topic truly applied to them. Who “wins”, and who “loses” were the focus of the talk that addressed both the benefits and disadvantages of a raised minimum wage.

Increasing minimum wages cause people to need to lose their jobs. “Businesses will have to cut hours, hire and keep fewer employees, reduce benefits, and increase prices,” said Zack Hutchins, director of communications for the Business Council of New York State. Even though higher minimum wages sound amazing, many companies and businesses had to lay off many of their employees because of this. The people who support the raise and vote for it state that by doing this families can make end meet. However, Walter William, a professor at George Mason asked, “Is it likely that an employer would find it in his interests to pay a worker $15 an hour when that worker has skills that enable him to produce only $5 worth of value an hour to the employer's output?” As a result employers are less likely to hire inexperienced workers and teenagers and take away any chance for them to gain experience in the first place and leave them unemployed. If the minimum wage was $5-7 many more people would have jobs and experience.

In recent news there has been some major discussions about whether to raise the minimum wage to either $9.00, $10.10, or $15.00 per hour. As you can see in Table 2, the minimum wage has varied over the years, but the options presented are set to increase the wage to above what is considered the poverty line. Many minimum wage workers are in favor of the wage increase, to raise it to a more “livable” wage. Yet, they may not know what the wage increase will entail for the economy, such as, an increased unemployment rate. The increase is supposed to raise the minimum wage for low-income workers to an income above the Federal Poverty Threshold. The increase is supposed to be the first step to solving the income inequality problem in America and a step towards economic growth in America, by helping to stimulate the economy.

The minimum wage has arguably become the most controversial topic regarding our economy today, as it influences one of the largest classes of people within the United States, the working class. Federally, the minimum wage has not been raised in eight years, so it has stayed at $7.25 per hour for all non-exempt workers (U.S. DoL). The opinions on this topic are typically split across a progressive-conservative line, with progressives being in favor of a raise from $7.25, and conservatives wanting to stay at the current rate. This can be seen when looking at the typical progressive stances from states and municipalities that raise the minimum wage for businesses operating within their jurisdiction, since the higher rate among all levels of