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. Many families who are earning more than minimum wage must depend on government assistance to cover basic needs. In addition to increasing salaries to $15.00 per …show more content…
Fewer jobs will be available for teenagers and adults with limited skills. Individuals who currently work for minimum wage or even more than minimum wage will find themselves without a job at all. Most unskilled workers and teenagers begin gaining skills in minimum wage jobs. An employer must always look at whether or not the business is making money. A person is hired based on whether or not the individual can earn more for the business than the business has to pay the employee. Businesses will not be willing g to hired unskilled labor because their skills do not benefit the business enough to justify paying them $15 per hour. Despite the improvements in the economy, data shoes that the wealthy are earning more and the poor and the middle class are making less. People will also be replaced by machines. Technology has a high price tag up front, but it doesn’t receive a paycheck. “The big challenge today is we have technology that’s replacing people. With that headwind of technology, the worst thing to do is to make jobs more expensive. Technology is already taking jobs,” Kaplan told ABC News. “What you ought to do is make it easier to hire people.” Overseas workers are cheaper than in the U.S. already. Higher wages, especially for those doing repetitive manual labor, will cause more jobs to go