ipl-logo

Should The Government Raise Minimum Wage?

531 Words3 Pages

The federal government and the state government spend a lot of money helping out the poor. They help the unemployed, the sick those who work full time jobs but cannot provide for their families. Raising the minimum wage would save the government money because a raise to $10.10 would take 1.7 million people off of various types of public assistance. The higher minimum wage would result in a less expensive food stamp program. Raising the minimum wage would result in a 6 percent cut in the amount of money the program needs to operate. This 6 percent cut would result in a savings of $4.6 billion dollars annually. This is only one of the government assistance programs that would benefit from a higher minimum wage. There are several other programs that would require less money if Americans relied on them less. Overall, the federal government alone could stand to save $7.6 billion dollars from all of these programs because 27 million American workers would be receiving a wage that they could live on. This money could then be reallocated to give greater help to those …show more content…

Restaurant owners, facing a higher wage bill, would like to pass the costs on to their customers. But their customers are people whose incomes have not been affected much, if at all, by the higher minimum wage. So if prices at the restaurants go up, these people will buy less and the restaurants will now lose some profits. They may raise prices a bit, but not much. Whatever they do, the restaurant owners will have to, if you’ll pardon the term, eat some of the increased costs. The point is that, with the increase of the minimum wage, firms that face higher costs cannot maintain profits simply by raising prices regardless of demand for their products. While the increase of the minimum wage will increase demand for those products purchased by low-income people, it will not yield an equal increase in demand for all

Show More
Related
332 Words | 2 Pages

But would it? The Congressional Budget Office estimates that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would boost earnings for around 16.5 million workers, while causing up to 1 million jobs to be eliminated. To me that’s not a great trade-off: according to CBO, the typical family living below the poverty line would see its annual income rise by only around $300, or about 2.8%. But for up to 1 million workers, their salaries would go to zero.

Read More
321 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
1993 Words | 8 Pages

Minimum wage would raise the wages of many workers and increment benefits what disadvantaged workers. An estimated 6.9 million workers would receive an incrementation in their hourly wage if the minimum rage were raised to $10.15 by 2015. Due to the spill over effect the 10.5 million workers earning up to a dollar above minimum wage would withal be liable to benefit from an incrementation. Women are the most astronomically immense group of beneficiaries from a minimum wage increase. Sixty percent of workers who would benefit from an incrementation are women.

Read More
407 Words | 2 Pages

When you raise minimum wage you raise the price in everything else for instance if minimum wage was raised ten percent that also raises restaurant prices 0.7 cents that may not sound like a lot but it starts adding up sooner or later and who knows then it could raises prices a whole dollar. Some people think that because the cities they live in are so expensive that minimum wage should be raised but if you live in an expensive city and are also living off minimum wage and can not afford it then you should not be living there. Also women think that they can not have a good lifestyle for their children with what minimum wage is paying. If you are living off minimum wage and trying to raise children then maybe you should find a different job where you can afford a life for your kids. Minimum wage should be raised because the economy is at a point where if minimum wage is raised there would not be a drastic change.

Read More
1162 Words | 5 Pages

it says that in fast food restaurants nearly 100% of increased labor costs would be pushed into their prices. Therefore, even if people are making more money, there will still be more money coming out of their pockets to pay for goods and services. So hypothetically wouldn’t they still be just as poor if they’re spending more while making more? But that isn’t all of the negative effects raising the minimum wage would have on small businesses. If the minimum wage was to move to say $15.00 per hour, then the business would have to

Read More
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.

Read More
598 Words | 3 Pages

This would make it where people wouldn 't have to live paycheck to paycheck. Raising the wage slightly would also make it so the price of goods wouldn 't have to be raised. The Economic Policy Institute stated that a minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three-year phase-in period. This raise increase would be easy to implement and would help the economy. By implementing this new minimum wage many problems in America can be solved.

Read More
670 Words | 3 Pages

In conclusion, a federal minimum wage increase will significantly improve the standard of living of low-wage workers. To meet their basic needs, workers must be given a living wage. It is not only morally correct to do so, but also beneficiary to both ends. The increase in wages allows for a more supportable income, but it also stimulates the economy.

Read More
1506 Words | 7 Pages

Many families have to have strict budgets due to only making minimum wage. The minimum wage is not enough money for most people, in fact, most of the people that make minimum wage, work multiple jobs, leading them to overwork themselves constantly. Increasing the minimum wage has been a major argument for quite some time. Some people argue that the minimum wage should be raised to help benefit workers and reduce poverty. They also believe that raising the minimum wage would input more money into the economy, allowing it to strive.

Read More
458 Words | 2 Pages

In such a situation, an increase to $10.10 over a three-year period, would release $22.1 billion into the economy according to procon.org. Some people say that a raise in the minimum wage would put more people in poverty. According to a report done by the 2014 Congressional Budget Office, “if the minimum wage was increased to $9.00, 300,000 people would get out of poverty”. That same report found that if the minimum wage was raised to $10.10, 900,000 people would get out of poverty. The federal set minimum wage should be raised.

Read More
711 Words | 3 Pages

Since the Great Depression, there has been a minimum wage in America, but this minimum wage has changed 22 times since the Great Deprnbession. Many people say minimum wage should stay at $7.25 like it has been since 2009. Meanwhile, other people believe that minimum wage should be $15.00 so they can have more money to live comfortably. People think that a higher minimum wage will help, but it will hurt more people than it will help. If America makes the minimum wage $9.00, people will no longer be in poverty and it will make the economy balance out.

Read More
1521 Words | 7 Pages

One large cost of increasing federal minimum wage is it will cause higher prices for consumers and an increase in all goods. This will increase the cost of living of all people, including families receiving minimum wage in poverty and families throughout all social classes. In the 2012 Wilson Review more than 20 minimum wage studies found that a 10% increase in the U.S. minimum wage would cause a raise in food prices by about 4%. Also according to The CATO Institute they found that restaurant prices increase in proportion to an increase in minimum wages. Michael Reich and Ken Jacobs in their article in the U.C. Berkeley Labor center say “Minimum wage increases do lead to small price increases, mainly in restaurants, which are intensive users of low-paid workers.”

Read More
1029 Words | 5 Pages

“A review of 64 studies on minimum wage increases found no discernable effect on employment. Additionally, more than 600 economists, seven of them Nobel Prize winners in economics, have signed onto a letter in support of raising the minimum wage to $10.10 by 2016.” (U.S. Department of Labor) In any basic high school economics class, one learns that any extra money given via minimum wage would be put back into the economy. For example, if a single mother is barley making enough to pay for her kids to be clothed and fed, the extra money may go to things that are or aren’t necessities.

Read More
1129 Words | 5 Pages

The Federal minimum wage was first introduced to the United States in 1938 under President Roosevelt to try to curb the effects of the Great Depression. Since then the minimum wage debate has been highly politicalized two sided debate that has a huge implications on America businesses, the labor force and the economy as a whole. Right now the base line pay, federally enforced since 2009 in the U.S.A, is 7.25 an hour. The argument of the minimum value on a labor unit is argued on both moral and economical viewpoints, debating the net good and consequences of raising this rate. One of the loudest arguments in this debate is what would a pay increase due to the overall labor force.

Read More
704 Words | 3 Pages

Many argue that an increase in minimum wage will help guide low skilled workers out of poverty and assist them into having a better career. That is not necessarily true, Many economists can agree that minimum wage jobs such as cashiers, host or a hostess are not jobs that meant to support a family. If anything by raising the minimum wage, it will put more people in poverty than guide them out of poverty. A raise in minimum wage will cause loss of jobs, an increase in the inflation rate, increase in

Read More

More about Should The Government Raise Minimum Wage?

Open Document