The Minimum Wage Policy And Function

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.

In the United States alone, the amount of people in poverty is 14.5%. That equates to 45.3 million people in 2013. In a country like America, one of the world’s superpowers, it’s embarrassing to admit. But the main issue is to fix issues like these with the minimum wage and welfare. The minimum wage applies to workers who got a job whether because they were in school or because they had not gone to college and had no other option. Most of the country lives off as minimum wage workers as only 1% of the world’s population has a college degree. Minimum wage needs to be adjusted to modern inflation. But the minimum wage allegedly does not affect poverty at all says a large demographic and does not need to be adjusted. The minimum wage makes up a lot of the country and should be adjusted or modified to today’s standard of living.

In 1938, The United States enacted a minimum wage law under the Fair Labor Standards Act that made employers pay their workers at least twenty-five cents. The law was intended to reduce the amount of Americans living in poverty and keep track of unjust business practices. Still to this day, we Americans argue over the controversy due to low minimum wage and high inflation rates. The deregulation of business and the inconsistent government policies have led to an alarming problem, the minimum wage isn’t enough for Americans to live off of nor is it doing its original purpose by getting citizens out of poverty.

Minimum wage is the lowest pay permitted by law that businesses should legitimately pay their laborers. Comparably, it is the price floor underneath which specialists may not offer their work. Even though the minimum wage laws are already in use in numerous places, contrasts of feeling exist about the advantages and disadvantages of minimum wage. Supporters say it expands the way of life of laborers, diminishes neediness, lessens imbalance, helps assurance and powers organizations to be more efficient. Whereas rivals say it builds destitution, builds unemployment (especially among untalented or unpractised specialists) and is harming to organizations, in light of the fact that exorbitantly high minimum wages oblige organizations to raise the

News stories abound with demands from workers, organizations, and lawmakers to increase the federal minimum wage. Headlines throughout the country highlight recent minimum wage policy changes in major cities such as Los Angeles and Seattle. Last month, Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York announced an approved minimum wage increase to $15 an hour for all fast food workers in the state (McGeehan). Even the website for the White House has a separate page, “Raise the Wage,” advocating for Congress to increase the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour ("Raise the Wage"). The most commonly held beliefs supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage are the potential lifting of families above the poverty line and the reduced demand for governmental assistance promised by livable wages. Democratic legislators believe people who work hard in the United States should receive living wages that combat poverty. Emotions flare over the minimum wage debate due to its strong connection with poverty and governmental assistance. While the issue tugs at the heart, people must also consider the issue logically in order to avoid unforeseen consequences. Increasing the federal minimum wage will have negative effects on training opportunities, non-wage compensation, and labor competition.

In 1938, the Federal Government established a minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act, during the Great Depression. Its stated purpose was to keep American workers out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power to help stimulate the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt, understood that the minimum wage should be a living wage, he stated “by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of a decent living.” Today, the Minimum wage is critical for ensuring that hard work is rewarded with fair pay. However, its value has eroded substantially, factors such as inflation and rising prices are decreasing its purchasing power, and the minimum wage is no longer what it used to be, despite decades of economic growth. Today, a family can no longer live on minimum wage; and a single person working full time on minimum wage is barely above the poverty line. When President Obama gave his 2013 State of the Union address, he advocated raising minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10-yet a year later, this still hasn’t happened. For many working Americans a higher minimum wage will make the difference between living in poverty or not, furthermore it provides a stepping stone into the middle class for many families. If the minimum wage is increased to equal a current living wage, the income inequality gap will decrease and the quality of life for those living on minimum wage salaries will increase,

Minimum wage was created in the year of 1938 with the pay of twenty-five cent an hour. Minimum wage was created with the intent to support the minimum of living and limit the severity of poverty. The national minimum wage rate is seven twenty-five per hour. There are opposing sides in the debate to raise minimum wage. The debate for raising minimum wage is apparent. “Economists argue about minimum wages” by the Economist and “The argument against raising minimum wage” by Huppke, each have important information and details pertaining to the argument. The raising of minimum wage may in turn

Low-skilled workers struggle with unemployment and poverty when a minimum wage hike hits, but in their mind they think they are just making more money. In 1981 the commission wrote an analysis over the job loss effects (Kosters 1). It proved that more job loss occurred when the minimum wage rose. A minimum wage hike is the worst way to get the lower class out of poverty (Sabia 2). The higher the prices are then the harder it

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.

Since the enactment of the Fair Labor Standard Act in 1938, the minimum wage rate has been cause for much discussion. In more recent years, the public has made a push to raise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. During his State of the Union address, President Obama, shared his views when he stated “… And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.” Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has made it well known that he wants to raise Pennsylvania minimum wage to $10.15(Ye Hee Lee, 2015). Early this year, Gov. Wolf signed an

In this globalization era, as various countries see growth in their economy, there has also been significant differences in the wages set to employees in different countries. The lowest wages set by the law that are fixed to a particular amount which is also defined to be the price floor below which workers shall not sell their labor, has its own effects. The minimum wage law came into force as a matter of social justice amongst the low-wage workers, also to reduce exploitation and see that workers can afford the standard basic living expenses and necessities, not to increase the unemployment rate, indeed to increase the employment rate.

Joseph J. Sabia, professor of the Department of Public Administration & Policy, American University, states, “minimum wages fail to reduce poverty because many poor Americans do not work.” (593). Minimum wage laws were created to protect poor Americans and subsequently federal and state governments would increase minimum wages periodically to counter inflation rates. The problem that emerged from this is employers’ demands for labor decreased as minimum wages increased. As a result, Americans already unemployed who sought work can no longer compete for a position that has now closed.

The minimum wage law was first enacted in January 1938 (Mutari, Ellen), and since then, people have falsely been led to believe that it is beneficial to the economy as well as the general population. It has commonly been seen as a method to reduce poverty by redistributing income in order to make sure that people earn a healthy, living wage; however, evidence has shown that it in fact does just the opposite. Forcing a minimum wage goes against the free market, and severely disrupts the natural process of supply and demand. Disrupting the supply and demand process results in many negative consequences, and produces an important question: should the minimum wage law exist? The minimum wage law should not exist because it causes increased

A common saying known throughout the business world, “time is money”, which applies to every aspect of every work place, yet a something is missing from that saying. The missing element is just how much your time is worth. Recently with new raises in minimum wage the United States is taking steps to come more closely to the equilibrium of how much employees should be paid.

According to the Economist, the introduction or increase of the minimum wage results in companies being forced either to reduce investments in the development of employees or to fire them. The growing number of unemployed people certainly can not lead to a narrowing of the gap between the rich and the