The Pros And Cons Of Raising Minimum Wage

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.

From an economic perspective, one can see that raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour will cause firms to decrease employment. If the cost of each worker increases, firms will not be able to hold as many workers and will be forced to lay people off or suffer a loss in profit. The problem with raising the minimum wage is that it creates a downward rigid market and causes firms to either sell its goods and services at a higher cost or lay off workers to balance out the increase in cost. Creating a market where wage is not flexible and is above the real market equilibrium means that firms will simply decrease employment and increase prices. This kind of unemployment is known as

Can you live off $7.25 an hour? Would you be able to pay all your bills, and have plenty of money left over for food, as well as personal pleasures? Imagine your salary was cut down to a forty-hour work week at the minimum wage salary in your state. Can you save money while on a minimum wage hourly salary? These same questions are on the minds of many Americans that are currently facing these struggles every time they receive a paycheck. For several reasons, the minimum wage should rise to $10.10 nationwide. This would be an adequate amount for most employees to support themselves and have some money to save or spend in the open market which would in

Raising the minimum wage has been a big topic to argue over since I could remember. The minimum wage has been raised 22 times since it was created in 1938 (https://www.thebalance.com). Raising the minimum wage will bring a burden on small business owners and make it a lot harder on them to be able to succeed. Employers will hire fewer workers in the entry-level jobs needed to begin a career. The raise in minimum wage would also increase the number of high school drop outs because they will not need to go to school if they know they will make more at a fast food joint. Prices might be increased to offset higher labor cost. Raising the minimum wage would just eventually take a toll on everybody. It is called minimum wage for a reason, because

There are many reasons minimum wage should not be increased. The first reason, the unemployment percent will raise. The unskilled teens will be struggling to get their first job. Then, the prices will increase to balance everything to the minimum wage earning. Workers are still going to struggle to buy their needs, when the cost of goods is raised too. Third reason, minimum wage does not help the low-income families. The low-income family’s percent is high that most are unskilled to a good job. Minimum wage should not be raised because the unemployment will raise, the prices automatic boost up, and it will not benefit the low-income families.

The minimum wage should not be raised. Most Americans would more likely be in favor of increasing our current minimum wage. However, in reality increasing minimum wage can damage our economy. Increasing it would actually result in higher unemployment hurting low-skilled workers, will have little effect on reducing poverty, and increase to higher prices for consumers.

minimum wage. She asks the question; “Will increasing the minimum wage hurt or help employees and businesses”? (Shemkus, 2016)

If the minimum wage is raised, then everything will rise in price. The overall worth of the US dollar will go down and the meaning of a dollar will be less. A great example is Germany after World War 1 trying to pay their debt by just printing all the money. So a loaf of bread that cost 3 dollars, rose in cost to 6,000 dollars. That is an example of the extreme, but the same concept is true. In America, fast food prices will go up substantially. This will not benefit the poor very much. Inflation can become a huge problem for this country if we let

This weeks article was a debate between whether or not minimum wage and living wage laws should be eliminated and our reaction to this question.

The minimum wage was created almost 80 years ago during the President Roosevelt administration and The Fair Labor Standards Act. The minimum wage varies from state to state. I recall 1995 as a 16-year-old in Tampa, Florida, I worked at Foot Locker and received $4.75 an hour.  That seemed like a lot of money to me at the time but I had little responsibility. To think when it originated it was set at $0.25 per hour and has been increased by Congress 22 times (ProCon.org, 2017).  Congress last raised the minimum wage to $7.25 in 2009 and now workers would like to see it become $15 an hour.  Is this a good move, or could it hurt us in the long-run?

Every year we go through the gauntlet of debate should the minimum wage be raised or even established. This has been an on-going battle since 1938 when the idea of minimum wage was set by President Franklin D Roosevelt following the Great Depression. It has since been increased twenty-two times by Congress. [1] For 2017 the minimum wage rate is still defined as the lowest hourly pay that can be compensated to employees. The Fair Labor Standard Act determines this in both private and public sectors. The current rate is $7.25 an hour and has been the standard since 2009. Some states have opted to increase their standard rate and thus employees in those states must be paid the higher wage. There are pros and cons to both raising the minimum wage or not. An estimated three and one third percent of the hourly paid working population is earning minimum wage or below. [2]

In this country, employees would do anything to better what they earn from working, but they get so caught up in the thought of money that they don't see the problems that could occur when their minimum wage is lifted. It sounds simple to raise the minimum wage and everyone be content, but the country could be seriously hurt. An increase in poverty and an elimination of jobs would be the after effect of a raised minimum wage. While almost every worker wishes to earn a higher profit, keeping the minimum wage where it's at now is the most logical way to avoid future problems. Therefore, to keep our country from going downhill the minimum wage should not be raised.

The minimum wage is the lowest possible wage that employers can legally pay their workers. Today, it seems like everyone has their own opinion on the minimum wage. Should it be abolished, raised, or should it remain the same? I will talk about the pros and the cons of raising the minimum wage as well as my own opinion if it should be raised or if it should stay the same.

There are some theories that suggest different methods to fix the issue that people are having with this. One of the biggest issues in America is poverty, so some groups think that if more jobs were created that more people could be getting earnings rather than being without a job. This doesn't fix the minimum wage issue, but it provides more people with revenue. If the minimum wage was raised to say, 10 dollars an hour, almost one million people would rise from poverty, but it could very well result in the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. For each positive happening, there is a downside. For each downside, there is a bit of good that comes from it. With minimum wage, the line is very foggy.

Minimum wage has always been changing through out the history countries. This has always effected all of the citizens in that country. It will always be up to debate on what should be done with it. Should be it be raised, or should it be lowered. Here is a brief summary of five articles from different sources that will go over facts and different views of what should be done with the minimum wages.