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The Pros And Cons Of Minimum Wage Laws

890 Words4 Pages

In last year’s midterm elections there were a number of changes in minimum wage law, including the city of San Francisco voting to gradually increase its minimum wage to $15 by 2018. There have been a variety of reactions to these new minimum wage laws, even among economists who study the issue a great deal. The goal of the minimum wage, to help the poor, is something almost all economists can agree on. Whether or not minimum wage will actually help the people it is designed to help is another matter (accomplish its goal). The fact is that some labor markets benefit a great deal from such regulation and some are seriously hurt by it. In this article I will introduce the main argument for and against minimum wage, and then end with some synthesis of my own
Minimum Wage is Bad
The model that economists used for decades to evaluate minimum wage laws will be very familiar to anyone who has taken an introduction to economics course; it is none other than the classic supply and demand model. …show more content…

The market finds the marginal productivity of a class of laborers on its own as the supply and demand for their labor interact with each other. If someone’s marginal productivity were less than the wage rate, no employer would be willing to employ this person because they would lose money. If someone’s marginal productivity were more than their current wage, they could surely find another employer that would be willing to pay the higher wage for the higher productivity. These basic assumptions of the textbook model generally hold true. For the most part, the market does a great job at discovering what someone’s marginal productivity is, and assuring they get a fair

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Various arguments that have been put across for why the minimum wage should be increased will be explored. The research will provide an introduction to the issue with some historical background as well as the current dynamics surrounding the issue. After which, the direction of the paper will drive towards proving that the minimum wage should be increased by exploiting researched facts as well as evidence-based arguments that have been put forward by various experts concerning the issue. The paper will not include opposition arguments but it will focus on presenting a strong case as to why the wage should be increased as opposed to why it should not be increased or rather counter-arguing the facts presented by the other divide of the subject matter at hand. The research will use figures, numbers as well as other facts about the topic from previous research to build the case for increasing the

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885 Words | 4 Pages

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981 Words | 4 Pages

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824 Words | 4 Pages

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