ipl-logo

Raising Minimum Wage Essay

840 Words4 Pages

Currently in the United States, there is a strong effort by workers of the fast food industry as well as some of retail companies to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. The current minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, which turns out to be about $15,080 per year. This is said by many to be an unlivable salary and leaves minimum wage employees in poverty. However, by raising the federal minimum wage there is a greater potential to hurt the small businesses of this country or possibly leave them with no choice but to close their doors. Surely, that would lead to higher unemployment and an unstable economy. The federal minimum wage of the United States should not be increased because it would hurt small businesses, the American people, and …show more content…

Small companies rely on minimum wage workers to allow the business to function. In most cases, these companies do not have extra money to be able to pay out higher wages. A minimum wage increase would make it very difficult to hire new employees and may also result in positions being cut (Smith10). Many small business owners have shared their negative thoughts and reactions to a minimum wage increase. Jane McGinn, owner of a startup, described herself likely going out of business if the wage increase took place. Furthermore, a dog walking company is already charging the maximum of what clients are willing to pay. For many owners, if there was to be a wage increase, the company would have to raise their prices of services and would surely lose clients. Also, a coffee shop owner stated with a minimum wage increase her cost of labor would be 45% of her business. “Honestly, I’d go under with that kind of increase.” (qtd. in Wang). The minimum wage increase would raise a worker’s pay by $6,000 a year (Smith 11). If a company has five employees, they would have to make an additional $30,000 just to break even with the previous year. That is huge task to overcome for a small business. A federal minimum wage increase would have a very negative effect on the small businesses of this

Show More
Related
484 Words | 2 Pages

Michael R. Strain states “the case against raising the minimum wage is straightforward:A higher wage makes it more expensive for firms to hire workers. ”which means that if the minimum wage goes up firms would not be able to to hire employees because they wouldn't be able to afford them due to the increasing of the minimum wage.

Read More
1913 Words | 8 Pages

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.

Read More
601 Words | 3 Pages

According to William Dunkelberg, a writer for Forbes magazine, by raising minimum wage there could become less jobs than before. Though the people who have jobs would be making more money, smaller companies wouldn’t be able to pay for their employee’s, and would have to let people go. “Small businesses stay in business

Read More
524 Words | 3 Pages

Raising the minimum wage has been one of the biggest debates during the 21st century. One side of the spectrum argues that raising it will make it so they have a living wage, while the other argues that raising it will hurt the economy. Whichever the case is, people are clearly divided on this issue. Before Oregon passed the 15 dollar minimum wage law, people wrote arguments to try to either prevent or pass this law. The article, “How a $15 minimum wage would affect a real business: Guest opinion” by Lee Spector argues that raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses like the one he earns.

Read More
178 Words | 1 Pages

In the book The Minimum Wage by Opposing Viewpoints they say that the minimum wage does hurt small businesses. In the book it says “A 10 percent increase in state minimum wages is consistently associated with a 1 percent reduction in retail employment and a 1 percent reduction in small business employment” (Viewpoints 72). Every time an increase occurs by 10 percent than in effect to that a 1 percent reduction in retail and small business employment. This shows that the minimum wage increases has a huge impact on the small businesses and also the retails. When the wage in increased then the small businesses can’t afford to employ all these new people.

Read More
1162 Words | 5 Pages

Some Americans argue that the wage isn't high enough to support themselves or a family. On the other hand, there is also many people who oppose the heightening of minimum wage. The federal minimum wage should not be raised because it would hurt small businesses, increase unemployment rates, and decrease youth employment. If the federal minimum wage was to be increased, small businesses would take the hardest hit.

Read More
993 Words | 4 Pages

Admittedly, if wages were to increase, smaller businesses may not be able to afford as many employees. This could result in businesses hiring less people and laying off other. If this happens, then there will be more unemployed Americans who fall beneath the poverty line (“Should the Federal”). However, with an increased minimum wage there would be more people who have a higher income than people who are unemployed. In fact, according to a study by Alan Krueger and David Card, there was “no indication that the rise on minimum wage reduced employment” (“Should the Federal”).

Read More
290 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
579 Words | 3 Pages

Raising minimum wage in the United States would benefit over twenty eight million workers. Raising minimum wage would help businesses and would also give workers with minimum wage salaries more money then just enough to get by. The money these workers earn will go into businesses in and near their communities. Also the cost of living wages have increased throughout the years. With a minimum wage salary you have to work a forty hour work week without paying more than thirty percent of their income.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

The minimum wage is especially difficult on small businesses, and there is no evidence that it reduces poverty. (Federal Minimum Wage 1) Finally, if we raise minimum raise it will make the economy better because people will have more money to spend. When people have more money they will buy more products for business. When people buy more things other companies will make more money and that helps them.

Read More
955 Words | 4 Pages

Jamie Richardson, MBA Vice President of fast food chain White Castle, states that the company would be forced to close almost half its stores and let go thousands of workers if the federal minimum wage were raised to $15. Her story is much like how many others would be if the minimum wage were raised. This is why it would make the situation worse by raising it. Even though proponents believe that they would be doing them a favor by giving them more pay, they are really not helping anyone, including themselves. The minimum wage should not be raised because of the loss of jobs, increase of market prices, and the issues that will be caused.

Read More
636 Words | 3 Pages

Some ask if it should exist at all. And, the biggest question of all, how does the minimum wage affect the profitability of a business? Increasing the minimum wage causes many issues regarding the economy and the business industry. Increasing the minimum wage would force businesses to lay off employees and raise unemployment levels. The Congressional Budget Office projected that a minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $10.10 would result in a loss of 500,000 jobs.

Read More
1531 Words | 7 Pages

Higher wages attract more employees and reduces turnover, which results in company’s saving money. In addition to assisting employees to live above the poverty line, a minimum wage increase would benefit owners. A higher minimum wage would benefit people across the board, it should stop being politicized so

Read More
466 Words | 2 Pages

So is it worth raising the minimum wage to $10 or even $9 so that we could bring so many more people out of poverty or is it too much of a risk for the smaller businesses? Increasing the national minimum wage would also raise the prices of consumer goods. In order for businesses to make enough revenue to stay in business while paying their employees $15 an hour they would need to significantly raise the prices on things we purchase every day. This could mean buying the store brand detergent instead of the name brand that you have always used. Raising the minimum wage could also make our society healthier by making more food accessible.

Read More
1136 Words | 5 Pages

There has been a growing controversy surrounding the federal minimum wage and whether it should be raised to $15 dollars an hour or not. Many American minimum-wage working citizens support the notion that the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour should be raised to $15.00 per hour, based on the fact that a job which pays $7.25 an hour will not provide the funds necessary to support themselves or their families. While a pay-raise may seem to be the solution to their problem, raising the federal minimum wage would do more harm than good. The federal minimum wage should not be raised to $15.00 an hour because it is not economically feasible, and would hurt small businesses.

Read More

More about Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Related Topics

Open Document