Ways To Reduce Minimum Wage

The fast-food workers are expressed as a pond in a bigger game. They have to deal with their low pay in order to ensure low prices by these franchises. Jencunas concerns go on to represent the beginning of a bigger chain effect. Briefly, he states that, “The average fast food store would go from profitable to unprofitable overnight. Some would close immediately, leaving their workers worse off than they were when working for $7.50 an hour, while others would raise prices and try and remain in business, hurting consumers” (“Don't Deserve Any More, or Less”). Evaluating his reasoning we see that if fast-food workers ask for a higher minimum wage, they will in return influence the profit margin and actually increase unemployment rate in this industry. The researchers go on to inform us that if their minimum wage increases the industry won’t be able to afford the change in their profit margin and result in bankruptcy. However, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which supports the fast-food strike states a different claim:

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.

Minimum wage has always been a controversial issue. Many politicians use the argument of minimum wage for their own political propaganda. Some may argue minimum wage should be raised, while others believe it will have detrimental effects on our economy if it is raised. Surprising to most people, minimum wage earners make up only a small percent of American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers make up about 2.8% of all workers in America. “The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These are high school and college students” (Sherk 2). But high school and college students are not the entire percentage of minimum wage earners. When minimum

The topic of increasing in the federal minimum wage has been hotly debated in Congress and between politicians and activists since the most recent increase to $7.25 in 2009. The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 proposed a $10.10 federal minimum wage increase but failed in Congress, while a more recent proposition, the 2016 Raise The Wage Act, hopes to put wages at $12 per hour by the year 2020 (14). Propositions like these seek to allow lower-income working families to earn a living wage but they have faced resistance by conservatives. Stagnation of wages has caused various cities and states to spearhead minimum wage increases at a local level, with twenty-nine states now having wages higher than the federal minimum (13). Raising the federal minimum wage to $12 an hour would correct for years of deteriorating wage values and would pull hard-working families out of poverty while lessoning income inequality and boosting the economy from the bottom up with minimal costs to businesses.

The reality is that salaries have not been increasing fast enough to keep up with inflation. In the article “PRO/CON: Living Wage for Fast-food Workers?” it states that “It would be $17 per hour today instead of a meager $7.25” proving that salary is not increasing as fast as inflation. In “Mcdonald’s Raising its Minimum Wage, but Some Say it’s Not Enough” it is said “Mcdonald’s projected by the end of 2016, the average wage rate for employees at its company-owned locations would exceed $10 an hour.” Even with this slight increase wage theft that is being performed by many fast food companies makes it difficult to support a

Increasing the minimum wage causes middle class Americans have less money in their pockets to spend. Representatives of both businesses and charities have almost unanimously stated that they will be forced to reduce their hours and staff size to conform to the wage increase (Englander). The risk of getting laid off or getting your hours cut because of a wage increase is ludicrous, considering said increase is meant to benefit those same people. San Francisco has recently increased their minimum wage to $15 an hour, and is starting to struggle to support it. The number of households in the area earning less than $25,000 a year is steadily growing,

Millions of Americans live in poverty unable to find high paying jobs to support themselves and their families. A common belief is that paying a higher minimum wage would help lift people out of poverty by giving those with low paying jobs a higher income, however the evidence suggests otherwise. The 2016 race to the White House heating up, the minimum wage battle is at the forefront of every economic discussion. The rhetoric between candidates within and across party lines is intensifying. Many differing opinions are being heard. As the debate over whether or not to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $15/hour rages on, one side stands apart time and time again.

A fifteen dollar an hour minimum wage will affect over three hundred thousand workers and cost over two hundred twenty eight million dollars over the next five years(Deng 1). San Francisco raised the minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. That being said The Mark Perry of the American Enterprise Institution, Adam Ozimek and Stephen Bronars of Edgewood Economics reported that since the increase many restaurants and hotels have laid off workers (Puzder 1). This comes as no surprise since in 2014 the Congressional Budget Office found that increasing the minimum wage to ten dollars and ten cents an hour would result in 500,000 job losses ( Puzder 1). As of right now 6.5 million Americans are working part time because they’re unable to find full-time jobs and opportunities ( Puzder 1). Raising minimum wage is only going to hurt those that are currently part time, unemployed and the upcoming generation of young adults just now about to enter the working

With the minimum wage set at $7.25 dollars per hour many people are struggling to make do. The average cost of living in America is too much for people, who make minimum wage, to make ends meet. It’s thought that raising the minimum wage will have a negative effect on the unemployment rate but there has been no evidence of that. The value of the minimum wage has dropped immensely since 1960. Raising the minimum wage will be beneficial to America and its citizens. In 1968 the minimum wage was equal to $10.74 today. That means in 50 years the purchasing power of the minimum wage has diminished. From the end of WWII upto 1968 minimum wage was on pace with the average worker productivity rate. If this trend was true from 1968 to today and worker

According to a study done by Perdue University, “…paying fast-food restaurant employees $15 an hour could lead to higher prices. Prices at those businesses could increase by an estimated 4.3%, according to the report” (Wihbey, Effects of raising the minimum wage: Research and critical lessons”). With a higher minimum wage, businesses must then pay their employees more, and to pay these additional expenses; they are coerced to charge more for their products, which impacts everybody, making it more difficult for people to provide for their families. The Cato Institute stated, “According to a review of more than 20 minimum wage studies observing price effects found that a 10 percent increase in the US minimum wage raises food prices by up to 4 percent” (Wilson, “Four Reasons Not to Raise the Minimum Wage”). If the federal minimum wage increases from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour, it is being increased by slightly more than 206%, which, according to this study, could lead to almost an 84% growth in food prices. According to another study on the effects of an increase in the federal minimum wage on consumer prices in the Reason magazine, “Raising the minimum wage to $15 could increase the cost of food by 43%” (47: 10). After a significant increase in the federal minimum wage, the employees who did not lose their jobs would then be receiving

This leads me to my final point, an elevated minimum wage would diminish the enticement for a preeminent education. According to Thinkprogress.com nearly one third of all minimum wage grantees have never progressed passed high school! If the minimum wage is increased these people will have no reason to pursue a higher education if they can support a family straight out of highschool. According to Facttank.org, if the minimum wage is raised enough to bring the current laborers above the federal poverty line, 500,000 people would lose inspiration to attend colleges and earn a degree. As you may know from reading this article, the effects of raising the minimum wage usually create a chain reaction of dreadful events in the economy and for the people of the US. As an effect of younger adults losing inspiration to go for a higher education, colleges may have to cut jobs, or even shut down. This could lead to even more people losing the opportunity to acquire a higher education! In all, raising the minimum wage would give young adults an excuse to disregard a higher education and get a job straight out of high school. The effects of this could eventually hurt colleges and their students, by potentially firing the professors and shutting down the entire college

Who knew that minimum wage could save the world and the people in it? The last time minimum wage was raised on July 24, 2009, and that when it rose from $6.55 to $7.25 per hour, How have we been living on $7.25 this long? We haven't been living on it we were trying to survive and a lot of people can’t survive on a minimum wage that low. Raising minimum wage to an amount that could actually let people live comfortably would help the economy and a lot of people who struggle in this economy. This is not all that can help but raising the minimum wage can be the start of a lot of problems that deal with job growth, reducing child neglect, and poverty.

In the United States alone there are around 3 million people who work in fast food restaurants. They get paid minimum wage. This year in the city of chicago the minimum wage went up to $10 and taxes went up from 9.25% to 10.25% making it one of the most expensive cities in the country. There was a debate rather they should of raised the minimum wage or not because they feared the taxes would increase as well. While the minimum wage is around $7-$10 across the country a new demand to raise the minimum wage to $15 is being talked about. Fast food workers across the country in major cities like New York and LA are protesting to get $15 an hour. Many are upset despite the fact that all they do is push buttons and flip burgers. Fast food employees do not deserve a $15 wage because there are other jobs that require more skills that don’t even get paid $12 an hour.

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

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