Almost all articles, for or against the raise, agree that as long as the poverty line is not adjusted, then state and federal services that low-income workers were previously using would decrease. This means that the money that is no longer being distributed in food stamps or other services can be returned to Washington, D.C. and be redistributed. Economists say that raising the Federal minimum wage to $9 will restore the dollar to its real value (The President’s Plan). And indexing the minimum wage would ensure that working families keep up with inflation.
The purpose of the federal government setting the minimum wage is to create a standard wage across the states in an attempt to keep people out of poverty. Having the federal government set the minimum wage allows for equality between races, sexes, and any other identifying factors. The purpose of the minimum wage is also to ensure that low-skilled workers are being paid adequately for their services. A federal minimum wage increase would have several consequences that outweigh the pros of the increase. For example, the increase would cause large amounts of inflation that affect the rest of the country, even those who work higher-tier jobs.
During this time period, the unemployment rate went up 25% and eventually employers took an advantage of the workers’ needs, and decided to pay their workers at a very low wage. To prevent these employers from giving their workers this type of unfair treatment, the government stepped into the dilemma and set a standard of federal minimum wage. This federal rate was put in place to protect the rights of the workers, during the Great Depression along with futuristic purposes, through the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Minimum wage at that time sat at 25 cents, and since then up until 2009 the minimum wage has been raised a total of seven dollars. If the federal minimum wage was not put in place, employers would have continued to pay workers less and less, and eventually would have caused an imbalance of power between the employers and the low-wage workers.
There are often many stereotypes about who is actually making minimum wage. Many will come up with stereotypical demographics to feed their agenda. According to the Minimum wage report, the majority of Pennsylvania minimum or below wage earners are 16-25 year old, white women. These women more often than not are un-married, and or non-high school graduates. 10 percent of workers making minimum wage in Pennsylvania are single parents, and another 10 percent have one or more children.
1. Describe in general the issue that is being debated; The issue that is being debated is about minimum wage. Is minimum wage an answer to help reduce poverty or was it effective given that the increase in minimum wage was implemented? 2. Read two or more perspectives on this argument from both sides (support minimum wage increase, oppose minimum wage increase) and describe the authors perspectives on raising the minimum wage to reduce poverty and inequality.
The federal minimum wage should be increased because raising it would increase the economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and also improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum wage. Increases in job growth and economic activity will happen when the minimum wage is elevated. If the minimum wage was increased it will “inject 22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three year period”. (“Raising the Federal minimum Wage to $10.10 Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest Economic Boost") Thousands of new jobs will be created and it will put billions of dollars into the economy.
The most important reason is that it would make it harder for people to create businesses if we raise the minimum wage. For example , say that you or a friend were looking for a job, what if neither of you can find a job because all of the once-were available jobs
Christina Duvernay 8 December 2014 Professor Teel English 101 The Stress of $15 Dollars an Hour California minimum wage is currently nine dollars an hour. In September 2013, California passed House Bill AB10, which approved the first minimum wage raise for Californians in six years (California minimum wage rate 2014). In January 2016, the wage will be at ten dollars an hour.
Increasing the minimum wage is similar to this scenario, as the minimum wage worker can act as the consumer. Many proponents of raising the minimum wage Whether it is a free hotdog, or an increase in minimum wage, the benefits are not free, as someone spent the time and money to make the hot dog. Similarly with an increase of minimum wage, someone pays the cost of the wage difference, whether it be the business or the consumer. Federal minimum wage was first introduced during the Great Depression in 1938. In order to parallel inflation, congress has raised minimum wage twenty-two times over the last seventy-nine years; subsequently, a push for higher minimum wage has increased, raising the hourly minimum wage for some workers, while
If the federal minimum wage was raised, many people would be making quite a bit more than usual. The American’s who are getting paid minimum wage wouldn;t be alone in having their salaries increased. Management and longtime employees of businesses who have worked their way up through pay raises would also likely have their pay increased to match their title and tenure (Williams). This could all cause the price of goods and services to increases to match all of this pay increase. If that were to happen it would negate the minimum wage increase and it could potentially hurt families in the middle-class who were doing fine providing for their families beforehand.
In 2015, CBS and The New York Times conducted a poll regarding the public opinion of Americans support for raising minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 per hour. The poll showed that 71% of Americans favored it, whereas 26% opposed it. There are strong arguments to be made about both sides of the debate, and though there are lots of pros to increasing the minimum wage, there are equally as many contradicting arguments. The strongest argument held by Americans who favor the raising of minimum wage is that it would improve the overall economy of the U.S. and create more jobs. In a 2013 Economic Policy Institute article, David Cooper writes, “Across the phase-in period of the increase, GDP would grow by about $22 billion, resulting in
Don’t Raise the Minimum Wage: If we were to raise the federal minimum wage we would experience an assortment of problems afterward. We would see obstacles such as people staying at the minimum for the rest of their lives, elimination of the amount of jobs that are at minimum wage, and it could have a slight economic inflation on business’s products. Imagine if you come home after work, heavy knowing you had to tell your family that you were laid off. You were all excited because there was going to be a higher wage, but in order to pay for all the other workers they had to cut from yours. With a higher minimum wage this could be a familiar occurrence.
Raising minimum wage would hurt businesses and cause them to close. It could also be argued that raising minimum wage would bring the prices of items up. Nevertheless, the benefits that come out of raising minimum wage outweigh these reasons. Elevating the minimum wage will bring families out of poverty and provide a livable wage. According to America’s Unions, “Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 would raise wages of up to 27.3 million workers and lift 1.3 million families out of poverty” (It would also allow for people to be able to keep up with inflation and it would provide enough stability for the economy to grow.
The laws that were created for minimum wage were created to improve the standards of living and decrease poverty in this society. Increasing the minimum wage can result in opportunity for poverty rates to decrease and people having a chance to survive in this world without struggling to make ends meet. Millions of working people are in living in poverty and an increase in pay would help raise people out
Conflicting Viewpoints (Pre-writing) Jhonatan Jerez Strayer University Dr. Yancey Critical Thinking October 11, 2017 Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased? Salary is one of the most discussed subject of all the time in the economy of the U.S. People work on an organization and expect to receive a monetary compensation for the work executed.
