One of the cons to increasing the minimum wage is that it helps larger corporations and hurts smaller businesses, therefore, competition is decreased. The bigger companies use raising wages acts as a barrier to entry to new business entering the market and create a monopoly for larger companies who have more profits to afford the increase. An example of this is Wal-Mart, who can afford to pay employees nine dollars and twenty cents an hour but a little store such as Meijer 's who does not make as much profit would limit their hiring of new employees and would cut hours to compensate. A family store might decide that the cost of entering the market is too high to endure as they build up their clientele and develop their business they decide not
A recent study involving three hundred fifty thousand small businesses and the IRS proved that by raising the minimum wage, proved that by raising the minimum wage in cities, actually created jobs (Meyerson A.19). The survey showed that the cities with a higher minimum wage had more jobs come to the area, aiding in job growth (Meyerson A.19). Another argument that leans toward the raising of the minimum wage involves people in poverty. Studies have shown that by raising the minimum wage, more people can live above the poverty line (Meyerson A.19). By raising the minimum over nine hundred thousand people would be
Should we raise the minimum wage? What are the pros and cons of raising the wages in the entry level job market? Ira Knight’s speech, “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, tells us of some of the pros of raising it. However, Janice Steele does a much better job proving why it would hurt us more than help us in her article, “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It Is”. To begin with, Ms. Steele shows us how raising the wage could hurt the workers that we are trying to help.
The first national minimum wage was not set until the year 1938 during the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. As a piece of the New Deal legislation, the Fair Labor Standards Act set new requirements regarding labor and wages. This act affected many things including setting a national minimum wage for the first time. Until this point, different groups had tried to set minimum wages but had failed. Courts generally found minimum wages unconstitutional against the ideal of liberty of contract.
I believe that Gov. Andrew Cuomo promise to increase minimum wage was a mistake that will in the long run hurt the economy. By increasing the minimum wage, he has benefited those who are granted to work at the firms that stay within the city limits. However he hurt the individuals who will be laid off due to increase in utility cost. Raising the minimum wage forces firm owners to either fire employees, increase consumer prices, or cut the hours of operation. At first the minimum wage seems very appealing to the Seattle community, but the cost of increasing the minimum wage has been seen already in the short term.
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.
There are often many stereotypes about who is actually making minimum wage. Many will come up with stereotypical demographics to feed their agenda. According to the Minimum wage report, the majority of Pennsylvania minimum or below wage earners are 16-25 year old, white women. These women more often than not are un-married, and or non-high school graduates. 10 percent of workers making minimum wage in Pennsylvania are single parents, and another 10 percent have one or more children.
What is minimum wage? According to dcitionary.com minimum wage can be defined as the lowest wage payable to employees in general or to designated employees as fixed by law or by union agreement. In our society today it’s become extremely difficult to find and keep a job. So many people have to take lower paying jobs just to get by. Many would argue that the government should increase the wages for the lower paying jobs.
Minimum Wage Law, Good or Bad? As minimum wage goes, can $7.25 an hour benefit or hurt society and can an average person live off that minimum income. That is a question that many people have tried to answer for years. The idea of minimum wage started during the Great Depression and was later made into a labor law by President Theodore Roosevelt. Ever since the minimum wage has been in place there has always been controversy on the amount that is proposed, is this too much or too little?
Can people really live off of minimum wage? What do the upper class think about minimum wage people? Do they even care about people who are living in poverty and struggling to survive in this society? In Georgia the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.
How Raising Minimum Wages Will Affect Us In an article written by Wesley Coopersmith, Minimum wage: more harm that good, of Americans for prosperity, published on December 19, 2013, Coppersmith argues what problems could happen if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour. Coppersmith starts off by saying that President Obama called for an increase in minimum wages to help people who are struggling in the United States, but Coppersmith does not seem like he agrees with that because of what other harm it could possibly cause. He says that raising minimum wages may cause unemployment, that it will hurt those who are less skilled, and that if minimum wages increase then the price of our necessities will also increase. Coopersmith’s argument
History of Minimum Wage There has been much debate over the years about raising the federal minimum wage. Because of lack of action by congress, some states have taken it upon themselves to set higher minimum wages than the federal minimum wage. The minimum wage was put into place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. According to Jonathan Grossman, Historian for the U.S. Department of Labor, “On May 24, 1937, President Roosevelt sent the bill to Congress with a message that America should be able to give “all our able-bodied working men and women a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.” He continued: “A self-supporting and self-respecting democracy can plead no justification for the existence of child labor, no economic reason for chiseling worker’s wages or stretching workers’ hours.”
What are the benefits and disadvantages of teenagers being paid at minimum wage? Adolescents are stepping up and finding their first jobs at a minimum wage of $8.25 an hour, knowing that it is already this high according to the city of Chicago the minimum wage is currently an average of $8.25 an hour. There are plenty of disadvantages and advantages of teens taking home a “hefty” paycheck, compared to adults who have bills to pay. Most teenagers during the summer are usually on their couch or out with their friends.
Minimum wage is an extremely diverse topic in the United States. Well, more or less, the debate on whether or not to raise it. Over the past few weeks our class has read several articles and watched a video entitled “Thirty Days”, all of which discuss minimum wage and how raising it would affect society. In this essay I aim to compare and contrast the positive and negative aspects of raising minimum wage based on the articles we have read and the video we watched in class.
Introduction Minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer can pay an employee for hours worked. The topic of raising the minimum wage is a sensitive issue for many people. The livelihood of many relevant stakeholders will be directly effected by policies created in regards to raising minimum wage, both positively and negatively. This paper will examine the history and current state of minimum wage. It will identify the issues connected to raising minimum wage, analyze the arguments for and against, and make recommendations based on the analysis.