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Increase Minimum Wage Essay

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Why the Minimum Wage Cannot be Increased to $15 per hour
The definition of the minimum wage is “the least amount of money per hour that a worker must be paid according to the law” (Freeman, 1996, Pg,1). The purpose of the minimum wage is to redistribute wealth from high paid workers to lower paid workers in an attempt to keep the economy balanced. We cannot afford to raise the minimum wage to $15/hour because it will result in job loss impacting disadvantaged communities the most. At this moment he minimum wage is below the minimum wage rate adjusted for inflation. If we raise the minimum wage jobs will be lost which would lead to a lower overall quality of life for disadvantaged people. (Freeman, 1996)
We Do Need a Minimum Wage
Although there does need to be some type of minimum wage at the federal level to ensure employees get paid something, it cannot be as high as $15 dollars an hour. If the actual minimum wage (also called the nominal minimum wage) is at or below …show more content…

When there is an increase in the minimum wage, employers substitute lower skilled workers for higher skilled workers, so many teenagers have their jobs terminated. This is especially a problem in disadvantaged communities where the unemployment rate for non-white teenagers is a whopping 43% (Jardim & Long, page 9, 2017). Communities like these cannot afford to see this number rise, yet in a study done by the National Bureau of Economic Research, if we were to increase the minimum wage by any number over 10% the non-white unemployment rate would rise to over 50%. If we raised the minimum wage to $15 an hour it would be a 100% increase which is huge. The purpose of the minimum wage is to help low income and low skilled workers, but when it starts negatively impacting the workers it's supposed to be helping doesn't it defeat the whole purpose? (Moore 1971) (Seltzer,

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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

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The current federal minimum wage is set at seven dollars and twenty-five cents. Many workers across the country are complaining that the purchasing power of the minimum wage is currently low, meaning one cannot buy as much while living off of the minimum wage. Moreover, citizens are work full time, while earning the minimum wage, are living, on average, several thousand dollars below the poverty line. However, an increase in the federal minimum wage may do more harm than good. It is likely that an immediate increase in the federal minimum wage will lead to an increase in high school drop outs, a large cut in the workforce, mass amounts of inflation, as well as a large amount of jobs being outsourced.

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Today’s minimum of $7.25 an hour is worth 25 percent less than the minimum in the late 1960s. From research, a full-time, minimum-wage worker earns about $15,000 per year, which is below the federal poverty line for a worker with just one child. We need to raise the minimum wage to the point where the lowest-paid worker can afford their basic needs, such as food and other necessities. An increase to $10.00 an hour as proposed by President Barack Obama would actually reinstate the wage factor to the same value it had back in the 1960s. In doing so, it would lift earnings for nearly 28 million workers nationwide roughly 1 in 5 U.S. workers.

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At first glance, raising the current minimum wage seems like an outstanding idea and one may think, “Hey, it’s not hurting anyone.” In reality these good intentions will result in many unintended consequences such as causing businesses to hire fewer workers, it has no effect on reducing poverty and will decrease employment. A common misconception referring to minimum wage in the United States is that the current minimum wage is not enough to make a living and support a family. The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24 years old.

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There have been a lot of riots from minimum wage workers about raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. However, many employers and non-minimum wage workers disagree. Many say that raising the minimum wage would damage the economy, and make house payments double, making the raise in minimum wage completely useless. Others might say that by raising minimum wages, more employers will lay off their employees and replace them with more robots, because it’s cheaper than paying a human worker $15 an hour. However, the real evidence behind why we shouldn’t is quite shocking.

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Living on a $15,000 salary is not cutting it for what families need in America. Proponents of the pay raise argue that paying low class workers more money would result in that money being spent, spurring economic activity and growth (“Federal Minimum”). While some supporters argue raising the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour, just raising it to $10.10 would give Americans more equality compared to other workers in the United States (“Federal Minimum”). Opposers say that requiring businesses to raise the minimum wage would force layoffs and prevent employers from hiring more workers because small businesses can not afford it. They also say a raise would encourage employers to substitute skilled workers for their least-skilled employees especially since most minimum wage workers are not primary earners but rather high school students or the secondary income of a household (Levin-Waldman 60).

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Raising the Minimum Wage In our economy the minimum wage is set so that people are not being underpaid for the work that they do for an employer. Currently the minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. Minimum wages are used in jobs like restaurants, production, and warehouses.

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Whether or not the federal minimum wage should be increased has been a controversial topic in the United States. Twenty-nine states have enacted state laws to raise their minimum wage, while twenty-one are still going by the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The federal minimum wage should be raised because it will keep up with inflation, stimulate the economy, and lift people out of poverty. A minimum wage raise would help get people out of poverty.

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The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25/hour and has not changed since 2007 despite significant rises in the cost of living. Many lawmakers feel that it is past time to raise the minimum wage; the debate is by how much. An increasing number of lawmakers feel that $15.00/per hour is necessary in order to allow individuals to live above the poverty line. Others, however, feel that this significant rise would hurt the very people it is intended to benefit. If people are working, they should be able to earn enough to provide the basic necessities for themselves and their families.

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Recently, increasing the minimum wage seems to be the solution constantly talked about publicly. Proponents of an increase in the federal minimum wage believe raising the minimum wage to 15 dollars an hour would lead to less people living at poverty level. This idea would certainly help millions of Americans and allow for families to better support their children by allowing for greater stability and spending power within the economy. The only problem with an increase in minimum wage is that it doesn’t affect those who cannot find gainful employment. Furthermore, it increases the possibility that some businesses would pay below the minimum wage “under the table” which is illegal, but still common in many industries and jobs on the lower end of the economy.

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Since the Great Depression, there has been a minimum wage in America, but this minimum wage has changed 22 times since the Great Deprnbession. Many people say minimum wage should stay at $7.25 like it has been since 2009. Meanwhile, other people believe that minimum wage should be $15.00 so they can have more money to live comfortably. People think that a higher minimum wage will help, but it will hurt more people than it will help. If America makes the minimum wage $9.00, people will no longer be in poverty and it will make the economy balance out.

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According to the Congressional Budget Office report on The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income, increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour will only reduce the number of people in poverty by 900,000, a relatively few portion of the 16.5 million people that would supposedly benefit from the raise. This is because of the number of minimum wage workers, relatively few are actually in poverty and of families who live in poverty, only about 7 percent have a full-time worker in the family meaning poverty is not because people are not being paid enough, it is because they are not working or not working enough. In addition, they argued that if raising the minimum wage would increase family income for many low-wage workers, moving some of them out of poverty. It would cause a risk in a probable elimination of some jobs for low-wage workers and the income of those workers would fall substantially, again causing

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However, most people work like mules and live below the poverty line with their salary. This isn't right nor is it moral. We question ourselves “Should the federal minimum wage be increased?” We should base this upon whether or not a person can live above the poverty line. So yes, The federal minimum wage should be increased to 15 dollars so that people can work and live above the poverty line.

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With the thought of minimum wage being raised the nation has to think of the upsides and the down side. For me, however, there is only a downside. If the minimum wage was to be raised to 15 dollars and hour, then the cost of living, food, and many other factors of everyday life would also increase in price. When the cost of everything else goes up, then many people would want the minimum wage to follow the trend and increase even more.

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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.

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