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Raising The Minimum Wage Research Paper

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Raising the minimum wage, a topic that has been plaguing the nation for years has finally made its appearance in Los Angeles. Many people argue that raising the minimum wage is helping everyone, distributing the nation’s wealth more equally, but that is definitely not the case. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Los Angeles County is a double edged sword, helping many lower-income workers, but harming more middle class employees and employers. The intent of raising the minimum wage is to help many lower and middle class people. But, by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Los Angeles County, the city is raising the standard wage by more than 50% within the span of 5 years. This drastic measure is meant to put more money into …show more content…

Some proponents of raising the minimum wage argue that the current minimum wage, currently $2.13 for tipped employees and $9 for tipped employees, is not a living wage. According to University of California Davis, minimum wage workers make around $15,000 a year after taxes. On the surface, this does seem like a terribly low number. However, according to the article “Why Get Off Minimum Wage?” from the Los Angeles Times, a family of four in California can get up to $35,000 in government subsidies and benefits. That adds up to about $50,000 a year per family of four. That seems like a decent amount of money to live off of. Proponents of raising minimum wage also argue that if lower class citizens have more money, they will spend more, stimulating the economy. In theory, it sounds like a scenario that would work, but it is actually not so different from the basis of trickle down economics, a right wing theory that argued that the wealth of the rich will “trickle down” to the poor. Trickle down economics argues that the rich will stimulate the economy by distributing their wealth, and the advocates of raising minimum wage assume that the lower class citizens will distribute their wealth into the economy. Both these theories rely on one social group to help stimulate the economy. However, based on prior experience, trickle down economics did not work, it did not stimulate the economy, rather it just made one social class wealthier. So, by using the same logic, raising the minimum wage will not stimulate the economy; it will have the same effects of trickle down economics, but now just for a different social

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Is it ethical to raise the minimum wage when it doesn’t necessarily affect the very poor, the people it’s aimed at helping? The minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage an employer is permitted by law to pay an employee for his work. The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. Across the country, there is an overwhelming push in favor of raising wages for our poorest workers. In January 2016 the minimum wage in California was raised to $10 an hour.

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The State of New York and California have both passed legislation that will increase the minimum wage in both states to 15 dollars an hour. Although the minimum wage of both states will not immediately go into effect, the minimum wage will slowly works it's way up annually until reaching 15 dollars an hour. Bringing up the minimum wage will allow people working for at the minimum wage to afford the high cost of living in both states. The decision to bring up the minimum wage was met with divided opinions as Senators and Assembly members from both parties on opposing sides of one another. Ultimately, the pros of raising the minimum wage outweigh the cons astronomically.

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Because the cost of living has welkin rocketed, it has become virtually infeasible to raise a family on a minimum wage job. A person living on his or her own cannot survive on minimum wage job either. Their living expense would just be exorbitant. The earnings of minimum wage workers are crucial to their families salubrity. Evidence from 2013 and 2014 minimum wage increase shows that an average minimum wage worker brings home more than a moiety of his or her family 's weekly earnings.

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Minimum wage should not be raised because it is not an income that someone sold live off of. Minimum wage in the country is currently $7.25 but some states have changed it in a way that is way too much. For example Washington state currently has the highest minimum wage at $9.32 that’s a $2.07 increase to the current amount minimum wage. Seattle is currently considering to raise their minimum wage to $15 it’s understandable that the city is very large and things cost more money but if they raise minimum wage to $15 that will only bring inflation causing things to cost only more money than it already does. If there is one thing that should not be done to the country it is to cause inflation.

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Minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage that a state is legally required to pay a worker. Supporters of minimum wage believe that it guarantees the workers the ability to provide for themselves and for others. Minimum wage jobs are front desk workers on college campuses, a restaurant hostess, fast food workers, or even a cashier at a grocery store. In the United States, the minimum wage has risen from $1.00 in 1960 to $7.25 in 2015. I viewed two different locations, both of which being Chick-fil-A restaurants.

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878 Words | 4 Pages

The increasing of the minimum wage is crucial to raise living level of the poor people, but it has a lot of negative effects on the economy. Los Angeles city is facing this issue when the council of Los Angeles declared the raise of the minimum wage up to $15 an hour by 2020.

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733 Words | 3 Pages

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.

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1002 Words | 5 Pages

They also argue that increasing the minimum wage shrinks the gap between low-wage and higher paid employees, which decreases the income inequality. Another argument they make is that if the minimum wage is increased, then more money will be put into the economy due to low income workers being more likely to spend their money than high income workers (Mejeur, 2014). Those that want a higher minimum wage view it as a way to better the economy an believe it is a better way to do so than by keeping the minimum wage at the same level. Although those may seem to work on paper, in practice they fall

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1483 Words | 6 Pages

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hilary Clinton have both embraced a 15 dollar minimum wage hike and interestingly enough, in a recent interview Donald Trump said that he cannot believe how “anyone could live with 7.25 an hour” and believes the states should take it upon themselves to increase the wage locally. It would be truly remarkable if one individual could live in Los Angeles (or Long Beach for that matter) with the current minimum wage of 10 dollars without having to share living expenses with others in the same household, or working multiple jobs. Nevertheless, with current economic conditions around the world it is hard for California and the United States to compete in low wage paying jobs that do not require much skills. In light of this fact I feel that the purpose of the minimum wage (which was established back in the great depression and had the goal of creating a minimum standard of living where all workers health and wellbeing was protected) should change to meet the demands and reality of our changing economic environment. Instead of being a labor price that psychologically gives individuals the liberty to buy a house, car, and some leisure, as many families think (especially as they mistakenly reflect back on the 1950’s) it should reflect the condition of the economy as a whole,

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Many citizens of California would naturally think about prices of products when they hear that the minimum wage will increase. An online article, by PewResearchCenter, says that “..Since it was last raised in 2009, to the current $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum has lost about 8.1% of its purchasing power to inflation”. Even though this was news a few years back, it still shows the effects of having a raise in minimum wage. It shows that 8.1% being purchased have been increased into products. There will be no point in raising the minimum wage if the price of products goes up.

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The minimum wage actually has risen by a couple of cent. An increase in pay is necessary to provide support to the parent if they have children,need to feed their family, and provide essential needs. First, The children,Families don't earn the pay they need to provide for their children(“procon.org”).The amount

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This poses the question: “Is the current minimum wage a livable wage?” The answer, unfortunately, comes back negative. The current federal minimum wage, at $7.25, is worth nearly 38 percent less compared to 1968 when the federal minimum wage was valued at its highest ($11.72 in 2016 dollars). Given the facts, it is justifiable to raise the federal minimum wage as it would amount to a more livable wage, stimulate the economy, and provide better circumstances for workers of color and women.

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Americans can all agree that America is struggling to keep unemployment rates low. If the government raised the minimum wage to $10.10, a projected 85,000 jobs will be created in the next three years. Along with the increase of minimum wage, everyone will be making more money, otherwise known as wage inflation. If the minimum wage goes up three dollars, people who make more than minimum wage will get more money to compensate for employees that make minimum wage. The modern economy is far too ahead of the measly $7.25 minimum wage workers make.

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Because taking into account negative employment effects and increases in consumer prices induced by the minimum wage would wipe out any positive direct effects on household affected by the minimum wage. The minimum wage becomes even less effective in reducing income inequality when negative employment effects are taken into account. I will address the negative effects in sociological aspects by the

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If America raises the minimum wage to $9.00, it will help people in need or in poverty, but it also won’t hurt people in the workforce. If you increase the minimum wage to $15.00 it will make unemployment rates go high up. Which in the process, makes the homelessness rates go up in the country and in your community. If you keep the minimum wage at $7.25 people will stay in poverty and homeless or on the verge of homelessness.

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