Introduction Minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer can pay an employee for hours worked. The topic of raising the minimum wage is a sensitive issue for many people. The livelihood of many relevant stakeholders will be directly effected by policies created in regards to raising minimum wage, both positively and negatively. This paper will examine the history and current state of minimum wage. It will identify the issues connected to raising minimum wage, analyze the arguments for and against, and make recommendations based on the analysis. While minimum wage could refer to the federal or state minimum wage, this paper will use the term minimum wage in reference to the federal minimum wage unless otherwise specified. Summary of …show more content…
Shareholders expect a certain return on their investment, so knowing how businesses plan to handle any increase will be important to them. Business executives are stakeholders for the same reasons as shareholders. They are going to care about the affect on profits, and whether or not the shareholders are satisfied. How minimum wage affects their business’s success in non-financial ways will also be a concern. Executives must consider how the treatment of and benefits for their employees affects society’s view of them. Business managers are stakeholders and not just because they need to maximize profits for executives. The ability they have to properly staff their respective departments within the business could be affected by minimum wage. Will it cost them labor hours, decrease turnover, or …show more content…
While the general sweeping statement that everyone is a stakeholder may sound absurd, the minimum wage debate affects everyone. Society as a whole should care about the decisions being made regarding wages and how it will affect business and economy. Arguments: The Pros and Cons The Pros Pro #1: Positive Impact on Economy Argument The argument that raising minimum wage will stimulate the economy in a positive way is based on the thinking that more money in the pockets of minimum wage workers, as well as anyone who experiences increased wages due to employers increasing their overall salary ladder, will in turn spend that money on items and services that pour back into the businesses that need to increase wages. The idea is that not only will more people be able to afford essentials, but they will have additional disposable income to spend. Argument Analysis Pro #2: Increased Availability of Jobs Argument Going along with the positive economic growth is the idea that if minimum wage is increased, and these workers turn around and spend this additional income, sales will increase to the point that businesses will need to employ extra workers. In other words, increasing the wages for minimum wage positions will create more minimum wage
It would make the united states a better place it would reduce crime and poverty the lives of many would change children would have a chance at education and wouldn’t be put at risk of doing bad things cause their parents don’t have enough money to put them through school and things like employees not always wanting to look for a better job would be eliminated the whole idea of America becoming a better place would become achieved. It all just starts with the raising of minimum wage and its just a domino effect once the parents have enough money to pay the bill and put some aside the kids live happy and once the kids are happy the employee/ the parent is happy and once that happens the employee become more productive and when the employees are more productive the business becomes more successful and when the business becomes more successful and expands they are going to need more employees and when they need more employees there are more jobs so in the end raising the minimum wage would make the United states a better place better as a
This issue is significantly important for different aspects such as impact living standards and labor market, effect on business and country's economy in general. The proponents of raise of minimum wage support their opinion by saying that the rise will cause improve in living standards, create more opportunities for jobs, and boosts workers' morale. As Ed Markey, member of the United
Minimum wage would raise the wages of many workers and increment benefits what disadvantaged workers. An estimated 6.9 million workers would receive an incrementation in their hourly wage if the minimum rage were raised to $10.15 by 2015. Due to the spill over effect the 10.5 million workers earning up to a dollar above minimum wage would withal be liable to benefit from an incrementation. Women are the most astronomically immense group of beneficiaries from a minimum wage increase. Sixty percent of workers who would benefit from an incrementation are women.
One of the biggest debates in the United States at the moment is whether or not the minimum wage should be increased. It has drawn a lot of arguments from economic experts, political players as well as many labor organization as to whether raising the minimum wage would be sustainable or not with each side of the divide providing reasons to support their case. However, the proponents of increasing minimum wage tend to have better arguments than those who oppose the increase. While in school, we had a debate with some of my classmates about the minimum wage and I learned about interesting arguments for those against and those for the increase. It is this curiosity that led me to want to dig deeper into the topic to find out more.
In recent years, minimum wage is a heavily debated topic. The last minimum wage increase occurred in 2009, rising from $6.55 to $7.25 (webapps.dol.gov). A common number thrown around that seems to work the best for everyone is $10.10. If minimum wage was to increase, it would spur job growth, lower unemployment rates, reduce government spending, and lessen poverty bringing many Americans into the middle class. The rise of minimum wage is long awaited and needed in the quick acceleration of the economy.
Increasing the minimum wage only does positive growth because “...authors found little or no evidence of a negative association between minimum wages or employment”. ("How Does a Federal minimum Wage Hike Affect Aggregate Household Spending?”) Increasing the minimum wage will only cause positive growth in a topic of employment. Raising the
It has been nearly 14 years since the last increase in the federal minimum wage. To begin with, raising the minimum wage to match inflation and productivity would benefit the economy by increasing consumer activity and stimulating job growth while lowering the federal deficit. A journalist summarizes, “The federal
Families as a whole will argue the point that an increase in minimum wages will allow families the abilities to put more food on their tables, while providing the base necessities need in the family. However, most analyses of the minimum wage focus on its unintended employment consequences. (Freeman, 1996) Some major companies have agreed to increase the minimum wages in some States, nevertheless, the amount that the wages have been increased by is not enough to get a family from beneath poverty. Proven the fact that job markets in some cases are not working in the best interest of their employees.
Workers across the United States wish to raise the minimum wage to ten dollars. Minimum wage should not be increased because people who work at fast food restaurants should not get paid as much as someone who workers harder than they do and it would not be a benefit to the people of the United States. Minimum wage means you get paid the minimum you can receive for working every hour, why wouldn’t an individual want to get paid at the maximum limit they could earn instead? Employees who would like to get a higher income need to get a more professional job. There are plenty of fast food restaurants in every state and they are always hiring full-time and part-time jobs, but shouldn’t adults work somewhere with more benefits, such as a hospital or a school?
In conclusion, a federal minimum wage increase will significantly improve the standard of living of low-wage workers. To meet their basic needs, workers must be given a living wage. It is not only morally correct to do so, but also beneficiary to both ends. The increase in wages allows for a more supportable income, but it also stimulates the economy.
Many politicians, business owners, and citizens hold fast to the belief that heightening the salary attached to minimum wage positions will yield negative benefits for our society. This opinion is supported by three vital view-points. The first can be found in the news article, “The Argument Against Raising Minimum Wage.” It expresses how the enlargement of this payment will take a toll on employment. The document reasons that if the amount of money employees earn is expanded, companies will be less likely to hire as many workers (Huppke).
Dunkelberg states that raising the minimum wage could possibly destroy small businesses. If small businesses were to raise their minimum wage above ten dollars they will either have to fire some employees to make up the difference of the raise or they will have to raise the price of the product they are trying to sell. Just because the government were to increase the minimum wage does not mean you will get more work or better work out of the that individual so that business may need all of their employees. Because maybe they cannot afford to lose one so in return they would have to raise their prices, but the issue with that is maybe raising the price higher might just be enough to chase away customers to chain stores such as: Target, Walmart, or Kohl 's. That may mean their small business might close, just because they cannot financially support raising the minimum wage. Another reason a small business might close is not because they could not afford, but because they were not making a lot of money so there was no point to it
(Mankiw, 2008) But it is bad for those employees who get laid off (i.e. become unemployed) because the employers now find it expensive to hire them due to the minimum wage legislation. (Besanko, David, Dranove, & Shanley, 2000) Thus, minimum wage leads to a rise in inequality. This would be explained using a hypothetical example.
Many argue that an increase in minimum wage will help guide low skilled workers out of poverty and assist them into having a better career. That is not necessarily true, Many economists can agree that minimum wage jobs such as cashiers, host or a hostess are not jobs that meant to support a family. If anything by raising the minimum wage, it will put more people in poverty than guide them out of poverty. A raise in minimum wage will cause loss of jobs, an increase in the inflation rate, increase in
The people who make minimum wage very clearly express their theory that higher pay will benefit them and show many valid points on why it should be increased. Minimum wage workers work hard and "[s]ince the 1970s, productivity has risen dramatically... [y]et middle- and low-wage workers ' incomes have barely changed" (Dorn). These circumstances make it hard for low wage workers to stay above the poverty line when the average low wage worker makes only $15,000 annually (Dorn). Before inflation, the minimum wage was surprisingly much higher, "in 1968, the minimum wage was close to $10 per hour in today 's dollars" (Dorn).