A controversial topic often debated between liberals and conservatives is the minimum wage issue. While many liberals advocate for raising it, a number of conservatives are persistent on keeping the rate constant; however, studies show that raising minimum wage would not alleviate this country’s poverty issue and would, in fact, increase the unemployment. For these reasons, the minimum wage should not be raised. Increasing the minimum wage would cause economic strain in many ways to workers already living in poverty. According to James Sherk’s article: ‘Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty’, raising minimum wage to seven dollars and twenty five cents would cause an estimated eight percent of current workers to lose their jobs. Another statistic suggests that if it were raised by ten percent, the minimum wage would reduce employment by two percent (Sherk). In addition to this financial problem, those workers whose wages are increased will not be able to work for the same number of hours as before the raise. Neumark, an economist at the University of California explains that workers who already earn near the minimum wage will be affected positively; he suggests that “net adverse consequences for low-wage workers” will begin to occur. Raising minimum wage may help some workers, but the majority may be …show more content…
Although a minority of workers will experience pay raise or may even be brought out of poverty, the majority of workers would face unemployment and, if not that, would only be allowed to work for a short period of time in order for their bosses to compensate for the raise in mandatory pay. Also, some economists dispute that raising the minimum wage will have little to no effect on poverty rates altogether. For these reasons, I do not believe the minimum wage should be
Should government raise minimum wage? Minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour, and if minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour such as in California, California 's law will affect both a much larger number of people, and a much more diverse population of workers than any other measure to date. A few reasons why raising minimum wage is a bad idea is because current employees who get paid the minimum wage would be obligated to do more work. To keep labor costs low, these employees would have to take on additional duties and responsibilities to make up the difference in hours available. Since more people would be willing to work for more pay, the current workers would be likely replaced by higher quality workers or automated systems.
Raising the minimum wage has been one of the biggest debates during the 21st century. One side of the spectrum argues that raising it will make it so they have a living wage, while the other argues that raising it will hurt the economy. Whichever the case is, people are clearly divided on this issue. Before Oregon passed the 15 dollar minimum wage law, people wrote arguments to try to either prevent or pass this law. The article, “How a $15 minimum wage would affect a real business: Guest opinion” by Lee Spector argues that raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses like the one he earns.
A recent study involving three hundred fifty thousand small businesses and the IRS proved that by raising the minimum wage, proved that by raising the minimum wage in cities, actually created jobs (Meyerson A.19). The survey showed that the cities with a higher minimum wage had more jobs come to the area, aiding in job growth (Meyerson A.19). Another argument that leans toward the raising of the minimum wage involves people in poverty. Studies have shown that by raising the minimum wage, more people can live above the poverty line (Meyerson A.19). By raising the minimum over nine hundred thousand people would be
First, one main reason that the minimum wage should be raised is because the economy will prosper. “Economic Policy Institute stated that a minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three-year phase-in period” (ProCon). This quote shows that the economy will flourish from the increase of the minimum wage and that unemployment will decrease. Another quote that shows how raising the minimum wage will affect employment is “To the extent that through these contour effects it affords as much as 70 percent of the workforce greater purchasing power, it effectively increases aggregate demand for goods and services, which should ultimately lead to the creation of more jobs” (Challenger 19). Bryan Covert supports raising the minimum wage by
Is it ethical to raise the minimum wage when it doesn’t necessarily affect the very poor, the people it’s aimed at helping? The minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage an employer is permitted by law to pay an employee for his work. The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. Across the country, there is an overwhelming push in favor of raising wages for our poorest workers. In January 2016 the minimum wage in California was raised to $10 an hour.
According to William Dunkelberg, a writer for Forbes magazine, by raising minimum wage there could become less jobs than before. Though the people who have jobs would be making more money, smaller companies wouldn’t be able to pay for their employee’s, and would have to let people go. “Small businesses stay in business
James Letts Mrs.Murphy Writers workshop 2/17/23 Why the minimum wage should be raised The debate about raising the minimum wage continues to rage on in the United States, with no clear consensus in sight. Lawmakers have long avoided this issue, claiming that raising the minimum wage will lead to job loss and higher costs of living. However, the reality is that raising the minimum wage holds many benefits for both workers and employers, and should be a priority for lawmakers. Currently, the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25, and 21% of workers in the U.S. are making less than that.
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.
Minimum wage should not be raised because it is not an income that someone sold live off of. Minimum wage in the country is currently $7.25 but some states have changed it in a way that is way too much. For example Washington state currently has the highest minimum wage at $9.32 that’s a $2.07 increase to the current amount minimum wage. Seattle is currently considering to raise their minimum wage to $15 it’s understandable that the city is very large and things cost more money but if they raise minimum wage to $15 that will only bring inflation causing things to cost only more money than it already does. If there is one thing that should not be done to the country it is to cause inflation.
Giving these points, minimum wage should be increase because is going to end poverty by sustaining families and by helping college kids with their loans. This is going to change the lives of people who right now are struggling, are struggling to feed their children, they are struggling with their loans or personal needs. All this can change, poverty should end, and college students will continue pursuing their dreams. So, take action on what you believe is right, and what’s right is being a helping hand in this
When the minimum wage increases, business owners will have reduced profit, sales will fall off, and prices will raise. Eventually, the owner will not get any profit because the store will get $10 off sales but the worker demands $15 and the worker will have to be fired. A high minimum wage sounds like a great idea in the free market, but it seems like a joke. Customers will not agree to pay more on a product just because the business has to pay the worker more and they will lose a profit they really cannot afford to
Minimum wage increasing will have a negative impact on the
There are a lot of potential benefits for an increase in minimum wage and on the surface it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t want to increase the wage. One of the clearest to see is that an increase to the minimum wage will also increase the spending for each household during the following years. So it works to help stimulate the economy in whatever area you increase the minimum wage. Along those same lines increasing the minimum wage will lead to a decrease in poverty as well. With the decrease in poverty you will also see a decrease in government spending on welfare items because the individuals receiving the higher wage in theory will be able to pay for these services/welfare items without assistance.
America today is faced with its fair share of problems. There are low employment rates, debt, and inflation everywhere, riddling the economy with issues. There is absolutely no reason that any American citizen should want to pile upon the problem. Yet, some believe that it could be done by raising the federal minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. Fortunately, history, economics, and common sense prove the minimum wage raise proposition wrong.
In the past three years, many politicians and labor unions have been pushing for an increase in minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest set wage by a law of a government body. An increase in minimum will benefit some people, and hurt others. An increase in minimum wage will cause benefit in the short run but will be very damaging to the economy in the long run. There should not be an increase in minimum wage because it is unhealthy to the economy in the long run and it will be the major cause of job loss, increase in inflation, competition, and the price level of goods and services.