Should Minimum Wage Be Raised?

In the 1800s, America went through the Industrial Revolution. A push for laws to protect workers erupted due to dangerous working conditions. Soon after in the 1890s, Australia and New Zealand became the first countries to mount national minimum wage laws. The United States set forth its minimum wage laws in 1938 (Grossman). These laws were passed by President Roosevelt in the Fair Labor Standards Act, which set a minimum wage of twenty five cents per hour and established a 44 hour workweek (Is federal minimum). The FLSA was signed because Roosevelt believed “all but the hopeless reactionary will agree that...government must have some some control over maximum hours, minimum wages.” Minimum wage is defined as the lowest hourly rate at which most employers may legally pay their workers. Raising the minimum wage has always been a controversial part of politics. One main question that politicians face is whether raising minimum wage helps the economy or not. Raising the minimum wage would help expand the economy because it puts more money in the hands of the consumer, it can reduce poverty rates and gets rid of income inequality as well. One reason that raising minimum wage would help the economy is that it gives a change in income. Generally, an increase in income increases the demand for goods at all prices. If a worker has more money due to a raise

According to Arindrajit Dube, an economist, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will lift almost five million people out of poverty (Covert). Right now, the poverty threshold for a four family household is $23,283 and a full time worker with a salary on minimum wage only makes $14,500 a year (2015 Poverty Guidelines). This means that if a single breadwinner is working in a household for minimum wage, that family is living in poverty. If minimum wage was raised, the income of a worker would exceed poverty