Minimum wage has always been a controversial topic in United States, and it has been heat up recently because of the presidential election and the legislation in California and New York State. Bernie Sander claimed Americans should all have a 15 dollar minimum wage, and New York State Governor Cuomo just signed $15 Minimum Wage Plan into law recently. However, is it really a good thing or it would simply ruin our nation like what Donald Trump believes? Also, if it’s good, who will be benefited the most from it? "Most economies in Northern America and Western Europe subject their entire labor market to a minimum wage floor."(Brecher, 1974, P. 192) Minimum wage has existed in United States since 1938 under the new deal, and it is legalized in many other nations too. However, if we want to discuss how minimum wage would affect the United States, we must first understand what is minimum wage. In economic terms, minimum wage is a price floor, which is a government price control on the lower limit of certain product. In this scenario, cost of human capital, in other words the wage is being regulated by the government. Adam Smith has once said in his book “The Wealth of Nation”, that …show more content…
Right now the minimum wage in New York City is only 9 dollars per hour, and it is going to be 15 dollars per hour by 2018. According to the living wage calculator developed by Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier, which define living wage as the hourly rate an individual must earn to support himself, if he is working full-time (2080 hours per year). The living wage for an adult is $14.30 per hour in New York City, and this is nowhere near the 9 dollar per hour minimum wage now. This leads to something called “working poor”, which one works full time but still falls below the poverty line. The best example for this would be one working in Walmart but also has a food stamp