The Minimum Wage Debate

The idea of minimum wage, and all its facets, has been controversial since its inception. Franklin Delano Roosevelt instated the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 as part of the New Deal, which established minimum wage; this bill came during a time of tremendous need: the Great Depression (“Fair”). During this time, businesses were grossly underpaying and overworking their employees in order to make a larger profit margin, in the long run this stifled the economy and only made things worse. Minimum wage allowed low class families to contribute more to the economy, perhaps helping the country out its economic downturn (Elliot). Twenty-two times the minimum wage has risen in order to compensate for inflation and other factors (“Minimum”). Recently

Economists suspect higher wages will make the idea of dropping out of high school more attractive to young adults who are eager to make some quick cash (Coats). Another phenomenon is more racism in the job market. As employers have less money to spend on employees some of the more racist proprietors may be biased towards “their own people” (Coats). Finally, there is the most dangerous of the possible results, automation. Companies, especially manufacturers, will turn toward automated replacements (Karsten, and West). These replacements will cost more overhead, but since they do not need to be paid, company revenue will increase. This is the worst result of a wage increase, as people will lose far more jobs than

According to Grand Valley State University, “The corporate income tax rate is a graduated tax topping out at 35% for taxable income above $18.3 million. That official U.S. corporate income tax rate is the world’s highest. For example, rates in China and Brazil are 25%, Russia is 20%, and India is 33.9%.” Companies often argue that if they do not have to pay as many taxes they can expand, hire more workers, and possibly increase wages. As stated by The Tax Foundation “A reduction in the corporate income tax rate to 25 percent would increase the size of GDP by 2.3 percent at the end of the adjustment period.” Higher corporate tax rates have caused some corporations to move their headquarters out of the United States, or to hold their money in offshore accounts (Hoogstra, Dimkoff, and Sundaram). The only downside with this compromise alone is it does not require companies to increase the wages of their