Why We Should Minimum Wage Be Abolished Essay

Should the minimum wage increased to $10.10 an hour? This has increased over the years and everyone has their opinions. Those who are in favor of increasing minimum wage to $10.10 believe that more money will decrease poverty and the unemployment rate. Those who oppose the increase in the minimum wage, believe that it should not be increased and should stay the same, because it will cause businesses to close up because they are not making enough money to survive in the economy An increase in minimum wage would have to make the employees work harder to make increase sales of the business. I believe that the minimum wage should not increase to $10.10.

There are many employees who find themselves working full-time for what the government has so generously termed the “minimum wage”. In Missouri, the minimum wage has been set at a rather appalling $7.65 per hour while in other states there are wages starting as high as $10. Though arguably the economy is not as sluggish and terrible as it once was, $7.65 per hour will not help those who have children, no college degree and debts to pay. It is not only Missouri that has minimum wage laws, but every other state in America has minimum wage laws in place. Both California and Seattle recently established a plan that would see their minimum wages rise to $15 by 2021. The question for all the other forty-eight states remains, should the minimum wage be raised?

In 1938 congress instituted minimum wage with 25 cents an hour being the first wage. After 78 years seven dollars has been the increase of minimum wage, stated by the article listed on, Heritage.org . Every year the cost of living and surviving in this country increases. You would think after 78 years, minimum wage would not be at $7.25. Many college students work part-time jobs that pays minimum wage to have some extra cash in their pockets or pay a few minor bills. Having a part time job is perfectly fine in college, but imagine not being in college, working a minimum wage job. Lets be honest, the pay checks are no where near what you would like them to be or it isn 't enough to cover everything that you want or need. So, imagine not being in college, working a full time job, with rent, children, car note, insurance, and etc. Many adults work minimum wage jobs, barely making it to provide for themselves and their kids. Your probably thinking, "maybe those people should go back to school or look for a better job.” Yes, that is true but for most people, its too late. A better job requires a degree, most people have kids and cant afford to take a couple of hours off or get someone to watch their kids while they attend school, so a minimum wage job is the only option. So, to make a better life for the struggling parents and the needy college students, increasing the minimum wage is a must for various reasons which include decreasing poverty, increasing health, and relieving

While I think that the minimum wage should be raised to $15.00 an hour, Mark Perry, a scholar at AEI and a professor of economics and finance at the University of Michigan 's Flint campus, argues “Seattle’s new minimum wage law takes effect April 1 but is already leading to restaurant closings and job losses” (Perry). Perry wants us to know that the Seattle’s new minimum wage law is “a government-mandated wage floor that guarantees reduced employment opportunities for many workers,” and increasing the minimum wage will surely leads to small business closing and job losses (Perry). However, what he said is erroneous, and a recent report written by Michael Hiltzik, an American columnist and reporter, won a beat reporting Pulitzer Prize in 1999 and won a Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism in 2004, also validated this statement.

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

Voting yes for initiative 1433 will increase the minimum wage statewide to $13.50 within 4 years. The minimum wage will increase about .50¢ a year starting from $11 in the year 2017 going up to $13.50 in 2020. A minimum wage is the lowest amount of money your employer is allowed to pay their employees; currently, Washington’s minimum wage is $9.47. When it comes to the topic of the minimum wage increase, Seattle is commonly mentioned because they recently increased their wage to $15. Most of us can agree that it has caused a lot of benefits for the city of Seattle. Whereas some are convinced that the increase was a terrible idea and, many residents will lose their jobs/houses due to the increase in pay, business will shut down and the economy will fall apart. I believe their information is incorrect and initiative 1433 will be positive for Washington’s economy. In this paper, I will prove that Seattle delivered phenomenal results and i-1433 is a good idea if a city can do this, a state can too.

The life of many Americans is one day on repeat. We wake up, prepare for our day, and then head off to our jobs that never seem to pay enough for our living needs. No matter how hard the average worker works, he/she can’t seem to make ends meet. Why is this? It would be logical that these hard working Americans that spend day after day at their job would be thriving; however, in most cases, it is the opposite. Despite the amount of time and effort that goes into a daily job, these workers are making minimum wage and are fighting to survive in the current economic state. It is close to impossible for most families to survive without spending paycheck-to-paycheck, as most do. There is a seemingly simple fix for this problem: Raise the

Minimum wages go all the way back to 1938, during the great depression, when the stock market crash and bank loan were failing. Families need income of some type, were they wanted to make it fair were individual could get pay the same without a college degree. I am going to start off with a little about minimum wages history and how this could help our Economic.

Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the citizens of a state that allows people to vote. I don’t think America has a really good form of Democracy anymore a lot of citizens don’t have the rights we think we do. Looking at the election we recently had, it is clear that people don’t have their own equal rights to who they want to represent us. We have the ability to participate in the elections and some of the decisions our government choose to enact but we don’t have the ability to voice our opinions about it without repercussions.

In 1978 a college student only needed to work about three hundred hours to pay off a four-year tuition, in 2008 it took nearly three hundred hours per year! It decreased quickly in 2010 but is climbing again. Even though businesses will possibly result to cutting hours and jobs to support their financial loss, we need to raise the minimum wage to equal inflation. The lower class is growing and housing and college education costs have skyrocketed, leading to more homeless and uneducated people.

"The minimum wage is something that F.D.R. put in place a long time ago during the Great Depression. I don't think it worked then. It didn't solve any problems then and it hasn't solved any problems in 50 years."

In addition, the employment rate for a college graduate is much lower than others with only a high school education. Today, those who have a college degree, are more inclined to gain a position in a promising occupation. According to Beth Braverman, “Americans age 25 to 34 with a four-year college degree have a startlingly low unemployment rate of just 2.1 percent, compared to 7 percent for those without a degree. (The overall unemployment rate is now 4.7 percent.)” (Braverman para. 2). These percentages, support the claim that college is essential for a prosperous career. In order to succeed in an occupation, getting a job is the first priority. Therefore, with a four- year college education your chances of receiving a job is higher than others without one.

The national minimum wage was introduced in the UK in April 1999 by the Labour government. Essentially it formed a major part of their manifesto as it convinced the average population that Labour were beneficial for everybody. However, they would argue against classical economics and suggest there are wide spread benefits to be gained. The main argument is that the NMW would alleviate poverty across the country.

Minimum wage laws are undependable based on a simple supply and demand curve. When all things are equal, there is a surplus of labourers resulting in unemployment, this is just the beginning of the frailness of minimum wage laws.

With todays technology advancing each day, many jobs in todays society require more than just a high school diploma. Writer Catherine Rampell says, “A college degree, in other words, is becoming the new high school diploma: the minimum credential required to get even the most basic, entry-level job” (The Washington Post). No matter what college degree one earns, there will be better opportunities available. Having a college degree helps someone develop confidence, allows someone to become better off economically and creates a bright future with a job that satisfies them.