Since 1938, the federal government and state government have imposed minimum wage
through the Department of Labor. The aim of the laws is to help low wage workers when, in fact,
this backfires on the exact people the laws were intended to help. Decades of economic research
show that minimum wages usually end up hurting workers and the economy. Minimum wage
(especially when raised) limits the opportunities for low-skilled workers, minorities, and young
adults. The laws force employers to discriminate against people with low skills. By raising the
minimum wage, jobs will be lost by the people who need them the most. This ultimately prevents
a larger portion of the population from climbing the economic ladder and living the American
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This could lead other
shops and industries to raise their prices as well. This would result in a higher cost of living and
eventually lead to another push to raise minimum wage once again. It could be argued that by
raising the minimum wage people will have more money to spend and therefore businesst
activity will increase. This theory is not valid because the weakening of the workforce would
greatly outweigh any benefit obtained by people whose wages were raised by just three dollars.
“Some policymakers may believe that companies simply absorb the costs of minimum wage
increases through reduced profits, but that 's rarely the case. Instead, businesses rationally
respond to such mandates by cutting employment and making other decisions to maintain their
net earnings. These behavioral responses usually offset the positive labor market results that
policymakers are hoping for.”
There is a large misconception that low wage jobs are meant to be permanent jobs when
in fact these jobs are meant to be temporary. Low wage jobs should be seen as “first jobs”