More handpicked essays just for you.
Pros and cons for raising minimum wage
Bad effects of minimum wage increase
Effect of minimum wage on employment
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Pros and cons for raising minimum wage
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.
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.
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.
Los Angeles is just one of many American cities using a rise in the minimum wage to try to address poverty and inequality. State and local governments are acting where the federal government has not. Just over half of American states have legal minimum wage rates above the federal minimum, which has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009 (The Data Team, 2015). The big question with minimum wage is what should it be raised to?
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.
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,
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.
Imagine there is a standard, a standard that all labor, service, and other unskilled sectors of employment adhere to. That standard is to only pay the minimum compensation for their employee’s time. Many people, in America, know this as minimum wage. Minimum wage is not sufficient for any person working full time, a 40-hour workweek, to have a large enough income that is considered a living wage or even an income that provides the standard of living. There are two economic principles that are relevant to this topic.
As of right now, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour, which might seem like a decent number. However, back in 1963, the federal minimum wage was about $1.25, but if we take inflation into account (CPI Calculator) then that $1.25 equates to $8.67, which is greater than today’s minimum wage. If we were to raise the minimum wage to $15, it would only be slightly more than the minimum wage in 1963, not taking in the fact that the living standard is higher than that of the past. In other words, the price of goods has gone up, but wages remain stagnant, which breeds poverty because people simply cannot afford basic living necessities and government places many restrictions on who receives Currently, California is the only state that raised its minimum wage to $15 per hour.
The Washington post survey proved that raising the minimum wage is a popular idea among the people, but if and only if, it has no negative effects. The Obama administration proposed a minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $9 an hour in 2013 (Holzer). Even though
The minimum wage exists in order to set a living standard and to ensure somewhat of a gaurantee of survival in living in the U.S. The current federal minimum wage is currently set as $7.25 and the state of California at $10.50 as of Jan.1 2017. Although the minimum wages has continually been increasing since $0.25 in 1938 during the Great Depression, proponents of organized labor and those in poverty remain persistant on increasing the minimum wage to $15. However, increasing minimum wage would discourage the low-skilled workers to sharpen their aptitude and reach full competence to work in a more skilled workforce. The idea of easily attaining more money for inconsiderable work would only help raise the standard of living, and lower the standard of the economy and productivity as a whole.
In general minimum wage should not be raised, since are other factors that minimum wage to not be increased. To begin with, if the federal minimum wage were to increase, we would have to declare that the financial ability to buy products and services would be decreasing and the value of the dollar would increase. This also means that the standard of living would increase drastically, since the imposed taxes
The federal government needs to raise the minimum wage to an appropriate number where it will help the lower class and not jeopardize jobs and raise the cost of living. The first intention to create a minimum wage law was in 1933 for $0.25 per hour under the National Industrial Recovery Act. It was declared unconstitutional repeatedly by the Supreme Court. Today we have the federal minimum wage set at $7.25 since seven years ago. The United States has come along way, however, the minimum wage is not meeting certain needs.
In the end, the disadvantages far outweigh the benefits of raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The benefits will only help in the short term while the disadvantages will be longer lasting and will hurt Americans across the nation. Fixing a problem with a solution that will turn around to be the same problem is not beneficial to the people. Similar to the French Revolution where workers, experiencing starvation and harsh jobs, rebelled against the government, workers in the United States are standing up against the government to raise the minimum wage. Fortunately, the lid of the pressure cooker has not been fully lifted.
In conclusion, I do think we need a national minimum wage increase. The number of $15 an hour may be a little higher than needed. However, given how long it takes minimum wage increases to get passed by Congress, $15 an hour should be enough to keep up with future inflation, for a few years. Sure, some fast food prices and other products may rise in price, and some people might lose jobs but, at these wages those aren’t jobs worth having
