The Minimum Wage: Should it be Raised?
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt passed the Fair labor Standards Act of 1938. This set the minimum wage for the United States to be $0.25 and a maximum work week of 44 hours (Grossman, n.d.). Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times averaging a raise of 31 cents every 3.25 years (Bose, n.d.). However this is just an average with the smallest pay raise being 5 cents in October of 1939 and the largest being 70 cents in July of 2007, 2008, and 2009 (Bose, n.d.). The shortest time between pay raises was 10 months and the longest time was 10 years (Bose, n.d.). The last time the minimum wage was raised was in 2009 to what it is today at $7.25 (Bose, n.d.). After nearly 8 and a half years, some people believe that it is time for the minimum wage to be increased yet again, some even insisting that it be raised to $15 an hour. While this may seem like a good idea, the minimum wage should not be raised because only a small number of workers are paid minimum wage, it will lead to fewer jobs, and prices for goods and services will rise.
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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