Why The Minimum Wage Should Be Raised?

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.

What kind of pay would you demand if you were expected to clean dirty toilets, pick up germy trash, and deal with customers who are nasty, rude and disrespectful to you while you are serving them? Would you do it for three dollars an hour? What about seven or eight dollars an hour? Well, many minimum wage jobs involve such duties as these. However, the minimum wage here in Illinois is only $8.25 per hour (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). In Indiana, the state where I work, it is a dollar less than that (US Dept. of Labor, 2014). The following information will discuss reasons why this wage should be increased and the benefits that accompany an increase for all of us regardless to whether we earn the minimum wage or a higher a wage.

It 's the year 2014, and we are in the state of the financial crisis which is still being felt

This paper will explore the pros and cons of raising the current minimum wage to $15.00. It will start with the history and reasons for the minimum wage. It will cite the positive aspects for raising it, as well as the negative consequences of that action. It will then touch on actual cases presently, within the U.S. economy. Finally, I will present my conclusion.

Raising minimum wage has been a battle for many decades and it has always been a battle to raise it. Many families that work for a minimum wage job often have trouble making ends meet because making $8.75 just isn’t enough in this today’s economy. Some jobs are paying $2.13 an hour but this is mostly at restaurants that are family owned but if they don’t make enough on tips they must get paid $7.25 per hour they worked. Although minimum wage has changed dramatically since 1938 when it was $0.25 cents (Kurtz&Yellin) American families simply cannot live on minimum wage. Raising minimum wage should be raised to help families that need it the most.

Many American workers will benefit from raising the minimum wage. 35 million workers, which is more than one in four, are receiving the minimum wage. 30 percent of percent of African American workers, 38 percent of Hispanic workers, and 15.5 million working men receive the minimum wage. These people would all benefit greatly from raising the minimum wage. It is a myth that people who receive minimum wage are working teenagers in fast-food. 89 percent of minimum-wage workers are 20 years old or older. 27.7 percent of minimum-wage workers have children, and may have trouble supporting their children with such a low income. It is also a myth that minimum-wage workers are high school graduates only or high school drop outs. 45 percent of minimum-wage

People in society must work in order to make a living, whether they have a highly skilled job, such as nursing or even lower skilled job such as working at fast food restaurant, they all must work to sustain themselves and their family. Many people who work in these low skilled jobs, get paid much less than the higher skilled jobs, however there are laws to protect these unskilled works, such as minimum wage. Minimum wage is the minimum hourly wage that an employer can pay its employees, preventing employees being exploited by their employers. Changing the minimum wage has positive and negative effects for both the workers, and businesses which makes raising minimum wage controversial.

An increase of the federal minimum wage would improve the lives of millions of Americans. It is a step towards lifting these people out of poverty. The federal minimum wage is supposed to enable Americans to earn a living wage, but it has not been raised in 8 years, and many people who make wages at or close to this wage are not able to survive on this pay alone. They rely on subsidies from the government and the community to provide some of the necessities they cannot provide for their families. An increase of the federal minimum wage is going to make these families more self-sustaining (CBO, February 2014).

Should minimum wage be increase to $15 an hour? That seems to be the million dollar question. Minimum wage is the lowest wage an employee can receive for working. Minimum wage is a contract or legislation by the government or legal authority. How would the increase in minimum wage impact the economy?

Increasing minimum wage will great be of beneficial to nearly 28 million workers among the nation. It will also insist businesses as well, by increasing the wages this will cause additional money to be in individuals’ pockets, in which they will put back into the economy by purchasing goods and services into their populations. Minimum wage has been a hot seat for debate. If the leaders in this current society could manage to raise minimum wage, there would be countless of families that could benefit from it.

Many argue that the minimum wage in the United States should be increased. Why should it be increased, what are the effects of an increase and does anyone really get ahead by doing so?

Raising the minimum wage can help strengthen working businesses,families and help our economy recover. “The minimum wage was enacted in 1937 during the Great Depression and it has been increased 16 times. It's a well-established economic policy to help families”.Raising the minimum wage in the U.S has its pros and cons.This has been the theme for several years

Minimum wage increase has been a very hot topic in the past few years and even more now. Multiple factors are involved with making the increase, such as whether or not the companies are going to be forced to layoff workers due to the increase in wages being paid. The minimum wage has been researched and reviewed on 64 different studies by the Labor Department. The Department found "no discernable effect on employment." We look at history to predict our future and expectations and in 1949 the federal minimum wage increase 88-percent in one year and that did not increase the unemployment but decreased from 5.9 percent in 1949 to 2.9 percent in 1953. The current unemployment rate in the United State is 5.3 percent as of July 2015 According to

In today’s society it’s expensive to live in New York and getting by day by day is very difficult if you are living on minimum wage. Of course it’s more difficult for some people than others depending on their situation and their living conditions. Americans and working class people who do come to America for a “ better opportunity” and for the famous American dream struggle. Minimum wage should be increased because of the overqualified, educated, and experienced Americans who are relying on minimum wage jobs as a result of the struggling economy. Raising minimum wage will help employees sustain themselves with a better salary.

The employment effect of the minimum wage is one of the most studied topics in all economics. Today, the debate over raising the minimum wage has been a hot topic after President Obama explained in his 2014 State of the Union address that he intends to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour, an increase of over 40 percent. While the President and his supporters claim that this increase would greatly benefit the economy and result in growing the businesses. Unlike some suggest that creating more jobs for people who need them rather than raising earnings for people who already have them is a better solution for reducing the national poverty rate. Minimum wages are on the agenda in many parts of the world (Luce 2). For example, countries like Australia and Mexico have minimum wage legislation, so they have Fair Work Commission that sets an hourly minimum wage by industry every year. In United States, the minimum wage now is $7.25 an hour, but cities and counties in California, Illinois, Maryland, New Mexico, and Washington set their own wage that helped grow the businesses markets. Therefore, the three main reasons why increasing the minimum wage will help the businesses are; have more opportunity for new jobs, reduce expense for social programs, and decrease turnover rate.