The Minimum Wage Should Be Eliminated Essay

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.

Raising the minimum wage sounds like a beneficial idea, but there are also a few surprising reasons why it might not be such a good plan after all. A common assumption among Americans is that raising the minimum wage equals an increased income, but, according to Joseph J. Sabia and Richard V. Burhkauser that may not be the case. They discovered that, “examining only employment effects, however, may mask full labor demand effects. Firms may respond to minimum wage hikes by (i) reducing both employment and average hours worked by employed workers or (ii) increasing hours of retained workers to compensate for reduced employment” (Couch and Wittenburg 2001; Neumark and Wascher 2007) (595). What, exactly, would be the point in

Rex Huppke, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, deftly discusses the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage in the last of a two-week series in “In the Minimum Wage Debate, Both Sides Make Valid Points”. Although I am for raising the minimum wage, Huppke’s presentation of the opposite argument does make one think beyond the gut reading that everyone deserves more money. Huppke’s argument that a large number of minimum wage earners are student of the elderly leads me to believe that a tier of wages would take care of the issue. For example, anyone working less than 35 hours a week would be paid at a certain rate; with full time getting an increase. I am not concerned by the argument that a higher minimum wage leads to lay-offs or price increases when most products sold in America are manufactured by cheap foreign labor. There is already a huge profit margin that could sustain such an increase. Rather than give discounts on goods and services, thus preventing employees from exercising the right to shop, stay or eat wherever the employee chooses, these employers trap workers into giving back the very money they have “slaved” for.

Okay, so some people may lose benefits, but at least they are able to bring home more in their pockets. Fair enough, but what if that wasn’t enough to compensate for the profit loss in companies? So now what? Well the company’s only option is to fire some employees. Sherk (2007), states “that most estimates suggest that each ten percent increase in the minimum wage reduces employment in affected groups of workers by roughly two percent.

The argument for minimum wage has remained remake consistent over the years. Some people are against minimum wage and the other think minimum wage can help you in a certain way. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Unites States federal government passed the Fair Labor Standards Act. The law has been amended almost every year to expand coverage of the wage floor and to increase the wage itself. Many of the fifty states have enacted their own minimum wage laws, some of them set even higher than the federal level. Minimum wage jobs don’t only help adults at hard times it help teenagers and college students. I learned that the proponents for minimum wage believe the raw value of one’s labor to a business

Nationwide government officials often wonder how this country is going to overcome unemployment, and the common misconception is through the provision of low wage jobs. By providing people with some source of income, congress believes millions will no longer depend on government aid. In actuality, however, providing minimum wage work is not going to solve such a drastic problem now, in the future, or at all for that matter. Minimum wage ($5.15), while serving at the socially acceptable pay standard, does not even compare with the nationwide ?living wage? of $10.18 (Ramisch). It is becoming increasingly more difficult to survive on such tragic wages, yet there is often little debate because it is money, and every little bit matters when it comes to paying bills.

There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the benefits for an increase, then the disadvantages, and in the last paragraph, I will

Which would raise it six dollars and twenty five cents. Which amounts to fifteen dollars an hour, which would equate for a full time worker to thirty one thousand dollars a year. A proponent of the minimum wage increase is Thomas Perez, who said “Workers are feeling like they have nothing left to lose” He works as an analyst for the National Employment Law Project, which aims at helping the working class of people. It ends by talking about Obama and his goal of raising the minimum wage to nine dollars an hour, as well as have it follow the consumer index so it would raise periodically Conversely in Arthur Brooks article he stipulates that President Obama neglects the poor. He reasons this by formulating research which he gives that says our current President only talks about the poor class on fourth of the time, while others such as former President Ronald Reagan talked about the poor in his speeches two thirds of the time. Looking at both these articles gives the notion that our President has agreed with raising the minimum wage. Although according to Brook's article he hasn't talked nearly as much about the poor class as other Presidents. It seems important to talk about this class of people since they will be the ones most affected by this social, and economic issue. Seeing the results of just talking about something you can see how effective it is in changing it. Without the

Many argue that raising the minimum wage makes hiring workers more expensive, eliminates jobs at the bottom, slows growth and ultimately raises unemployment. Economic studies show that raising the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation creates little additional harm, but what the president is

“Of course, nothing helps families make ends meet like higher wages. … 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.”

The minimum wage is not keeping up with inflation. As not indexed for inflation, its corresponding purchasing power, the amount of goods and services that can be purchased by a unit of currency, has decreased significantly.

"No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty."

There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the

This is exceedingly harmful, counterproductive and against what the minimum wage implementation was intended for, which was to make sure everyone is able to earn a living wage. Although some people may be able to earn a little more than they would have otherwise been able to, hundreds of thousands of other potential workers are no longer able to find work. In a book written by Christopher Flinn, titled The Minimum Wage and Labor Market Outcomes, he arrived to the conclusion that: “A minimum wage increase cannot simultaneously yield an increase in the employment rate and a decrease in the unemployment rate” (77). A loss of jobs resulting from the minimum wage law is inevitable, but if this law was rightfully extinguished, wages would naturally be set by supply and demand, and all types of people would be able to find work, no matter what their skill level is. Individuals would be paid based off of their production value, and if they begin to produce more than they are being paid, the demand for their work will go up and they will receive a raise, or they will search for another employer who is able to recognize their value. The minimum wage law should be overturned immediately due to the significant amount of jobs being ruined through the destruction of supply and demand. With that being said, another reason the minimum wage law should not exist is because it increases the prices of goods and services.

(Reich 145). Some policymakers believe that companies simply absorb the costs of minimum wage increases through reduced profits, but in fact, that’s rarely the case. Instead, a business rationally responds to such mandates by cutting employment and making other decisions to maintain their net earnings. These responses usually offset the positive labor market results that policymakers are hoping for. Excess supply of labor is dispersed in several ways; a reduction in hours, fewer job opportunities, and a shift in employment from the sectors covered by the wage law to sectors not covered. In the case of a nationwide minimum wage, large numbers of businesses will be affected thus by different amounts depending on the industry, region of the country, and other factors. In addition to the mandated cost increase, possibly having the cause of employment reductions, a portion of the higher wage costs may be passed forward to consumers or back to other workers or suppliers of business inputs. Some circumstances may be that firms may reduce work hours. The employment and hours worked may also be affected by wage-related changes in employee productivity. Faced with higher labor costs, businesses try to raise prices, lay off workers or cut their margins. Competitive pressure can prevent them from boosting prices. That leaves them with the choice of either cutting jobs or accepting lower profits. Employees on the other hand, will be hurt if companies cut the number of low-wage jobs because of a higher minimum wage. Wages depend on the value that people produce. If the government tells businesses they have to pay people more than that value, they will get rid of unproductive workers. Not only does minimum wage hurt people in the short run, but it also can harm them over their entire careers. Entry-level jobs give people the chance