Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Minimum wage is the lowest, baseline hourly salary employers are legally allowed to pay their employees. It was first legislated in the year 1938 under the presidential leadership of Franklin D. Roosevelt (Minimum Wage - ProCon.org). The current federal minimum wage stands at $7.25 an hour, with a few states adjusting their minimums to some higher degree. In this current decade (from 2007 – 2017) where there has been a somewhat aggressive rising cost of living and inflation, the debate regarding minimum wage is forefront and increasingly relevant. The notion of this has brought me to select the topic for further research. What I want to focus on specifically is the primary question: Should minimum wage be raised? – specifically regarding the

This is probably the most substantial feature to indicate regarding the foundation of this entire debate on minimum wage. Through my careful examination of numerous papers and articles from the opposing side, the argument that appears forefront is that the federal wage minimum should be increased because it will reduce poverty levels within the wage-class America. This is simply not the case, and there is research to further explain why. As it was previously noted, raising the minimum wage will decrease ascending social mobility. What is social mobility? A clearly defined definition provided by Encyclopædia Britannica social mobility is “[the] movement of individuals, families, or groups through a system of social hierarchy or stratification” (“Social Mobility”). In relation to the workforce, an example of upwards mobility would be a low-wage worker rising to a corporate managerial position, resulting in a rise in social class. Giving these entry-level jobs a wage hike will likely shift the demand towards retaining jobs with lower skill