Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Raising Minimum Wage Currently in the United States 20 percent of working families make minimum wage and are living in poverty. In the United States countless people are affected by the current minimum wage at $7.25. This amount of money is not livable for the current society we live in. Families working full time do not deserve to live in poverty. There is a great deal of benefits that would come out of raising minimum wage. Minimum wage should be raised to provide a livable income to low wage workers, reduce poverty, and allow people to have money to give back to the economy. Raising the minimum wage would help millions of people. $7.25 is not an adequate wage. It does not provide enough money to pay for basic things one needs to survive

The extra money paid to these workers would be going back into the economy as it is spent on necessities needed to live. More money being spent would have an ample effect on the economy. The article “Raising the minimum wage: Good for Workers, businesses, and the economy states, “a $2.55 increase in minimum wage would increase the earnings of low-wage workers by $40 billion and result in a significant increase in GDP and employment” (Scott 2). A higher pay means heightened consumer spending and the ability for businesses to retain and hire new employees. Politics of poverty states, “The roughly $120 billion extra paid to workers would be pumped back into the economy” (Babic 1). The economy would benefit from this extra money being put into it. Raising minimum wage would bring out increased customer demand due to people having more freedom with money and being able to spend it how they would

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. American progress states, “A study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago estimates that a $1 raise for a minimum wage worker translates to an additional $2,080 in consumer spending” (Willingham 1). Small businesses would be boosted from raising minimum wage due to increased consumer spending. Rather than this hurting small businesses they would be