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The Pros And Cons Of Raising Minimum Wage

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To Raise or Not to Raise Opinions surrounding the minimum wage divides America. Just like with any controversy, the opinions of Americans are not simple. Some think the minimum wage is fine at its current level. Some think the minimum wage should only be raised in certain case. Others believe the minimum wage should not be up to the government. Jack Quinn, Mike Castle, Steve LaTourette, and Connie Morella state in their article, “Raising the Minimum Wage is Common Sense,” that raising the minimum wage to match the cost of living is the route the government should take. On the contrary, in “Why I Don’t Think We Should Raise the Minimum Wage,” William Dunkelberg asserts that an increase is not common sense and would, in fact, cause more harm than good. In 2007, Congress modified the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 with the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. This set in motion a sequence of raises in the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $5.85 to $6.55 and a final raise in 2009 to $7.25 an hour (“History of Changes to the Minimum Wage Law”). In their article, Quinn, et al, point out that since 2009, the cost of living has gone up significantly. They report high percentage increases for everyday necessities, such as the twenty percent increase in groceries and the twenty-five percent increase in a gallon of gas. These …show more content…

He makes this point by saying, “A firm cannot be forced to pay more than the value a worker brings to the firm, no matter what wage the government sets. It will go out of business and NO jobs will be provided.” The only reason Dunkelberg feels a worker’s pay should go up is if the productivity rises. Higher productivity causes a worker’s value to go up meaning the worker should get paid more. This stance points to Dunkelberg’s ultimate opinion on the federal minimum wage. He feels businesses should get a say in the minimum

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Michael R. Strain states “the case against raising the minimum wage is straightforward:A higher wage makes it more expensive for firms to hire workers. ”which means that if the minimum wage goes up firms would not be able to to hire employees because they wouldn't be able to afford them due to the increasing of the minimum wage.

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1094 Words | 5 Pages

The federal minimum wage has been increased twenty-two times since President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the bill into law in 1938. President Roosevelt was an avid supporter of a federal minimum wage as he says that “no business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country.” Raising the federal minimum wage has many pros and cons, but is a necessity to thrive in society. People have argued that raising the minimum wage will cause inflation, but it will create various economical benefits, income benefits, production benefits, and improve racial justice.

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This is because an increase in the minimum wage is based on improving the income and ultimately the lives of the lower class members of the community as far as salaries are concerned. However, these advocates rarely take time to investigate what the consequences of changing the minimum wage laws and policies (Sowell, 1). According to the fundamental economic principles, individuals are more

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876 Words | 4 Pages

In the last few years, the topic of the minimum wage has been a highly debatable subject. There are numerous perspectives regarding raising the minimum wage. “The concept of the minimum wage can be defined as the minimum amount of remuneration that an employer is required to pay wage earners for the work performed during a given period,” (ILO,2014). A few of the common disagreements are how unemployment rates will be affected, who will be most affected by a change, and what alternatives are available. In the article “Why the next president should raise the minimum wage” Roger Lowenstein argues that it is his belief that raising the minimum wage will benefit society by reducing unemployment rates and thus reducing the amount of the population living in poverty.

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During this time period, the unemployment rate went up 25% and eventually employers took an advantage of the workers’ needs, and decided to pay their workers at a very low wage. To prevent these employers from giving their workers this type of unfair treatment, the government stepped into the dilemma and set a standard of federal minimum wage. This federal rate was put in place to protect the rights of the workers, during the Great Depression along with futuristic purposes, through the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. Minimum wage at that time sat at 25 cents, and since then up until 2009 the minimum wage has been raised a total of seven dollars. If the federal minimum wage was not put in place, employers would have continued to pay workers less and less, and eventually would have caused an imbalance of power between the employers and the low-wage workers.

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Bill Quigley’s Top Ten Arguments for Raising the Minimum Wage argues that since the impact is so negligible there should be no reason businesses can’t afford it. He also addresses the “free market” system stating it will not take care of the workers. He points out the special tax breaks for businesses and states that this is nothing compared to raising wages, but this has yet to be done. Overall they seem to all agree that the workforce should be paid more, but do not agree how this should be enforced or even encouraged. Quigley very clearly believes in a minimum wage hike, stating that businesses will not take care of the people.

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2415 Words | 10 Pages

The Federal Minimum Wage is widely considered to be the backbone of American workers’ rights. Minimum wage was created and implemented to ensure that workers get paid fairly for the time that they work, and get paid enough to support themselves and their families. However, this, though once a reality, is no longer happening. Because of the inadequacy of the Federal Minimum Wage, and perhaps more importantly, the gross negligence of the Executive Branch of the United States government of said inadequacy, as was displayed by the Republican­controlled Congress blocking a bill in 2014 that would have raised the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 per hour, workers are suffering and struggling to avoid poverty and personal economic disaster. The federal

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1558 Words | 7 Pages

Many people are afraid that by raising the minimum wage it will hurt the poor, reduce other job benefits, and reduce competition. A 1997 National Bureau of Economic Research study estimated that the federal minimum-wage hike of 1996 and 1997 actually increased the number of poor families by 4.5 percent (Henderson). Employers respond to forced higher wages by adjusting other components of employee compensation, such as health insurance or other benefits. Although few minimum wage workers have employer-provided health insurance, employers have found other ways to adjust, such as cutting on-the-job training (Henderson). Gov. Schwarzenegger’s proposed a 15 percent increase in the state minimum wage would destroy about 35,000 to 70,000 unskilled jobs-putting 1.5 to 3 percent of young Californians out of work.

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Abstract In 1938 President Franklin Roosevelt signed into law The Fair Labor Standards Act, which among many things established a minimum wage; the law was created as a way to help the poorest in the US during the Great Depression. Then and now there are strong opinions on both sides of this issue, and without an automatic cost of living adjustment built into the law; any increase requires a bill passed by both houses of Congress and the President’s signature to make it law. In the following essay I will be analyzing two articles that outline both the for raising minimum wage side and the side that opposes raising it; by examining their claims, and the evidence that they use to support their claim of why raising the minimum wage is a good

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986 Words | 4 Pages

It is Hassett's opinion that a wage increase will in fact cause more of a problem and burden the economy greatly . Hassett, also states, it would be a mistake to raise the minimum wage, as it will have a reverse effect. It will cause higher unemployment as a reaction to companies closing sectors, and making present employees redundant. Also , he is of the belief , companies will not hire younger, unskilled labor because, with the increased wage it would become costly. I disagree with Hassett.

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1093 Words | 5 Pages

Why? Some people say it’s because that certain people will be making more than the people working at a company the longest. There are also cons to raising wages. This reason comes along with employers may begin to struggle and making some workers upset because of the amount others would be paid. Some workers that have strived to reach the pay they have, now are upset because the people working at a company for not as long have just reached the peak income.

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587 Words | 3 Pages

If business reduce their labor force due to the increase in salary cost then it adds to the already high unemployment/underemployment rate. Americans cannot afford to have more unemployed people in our communities. Another possible con would be if a high increase in minimum wage causes an increase in the cost of goods and services. While workers may earn more they may also have to spend more and their quality of life may not actually improve. In the article The Logical Floor, it states that in Britian, it is (the minimum wage), adjusted annually on the advice of economist and is generally increased gradually.

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495 Words | 2 Pages

A controversial topic often debated between liberals and conservatives is the minimum wage issue. While many liberals advocate for raising it, a number of conservatives are persistent on keeping the rate constant; however, studies show that raising minimum wage would not alleviate this country’s poverty issue and would, in fact, increase the unemployment. For these reasons, the minimum wage should not be raised. Increasing the minimum wage would cause economic strain in many ways to workers already living in poverty. According to James Sherk’s article: ‘Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty’, raising minimum wage to seven dollars and twenty five cents would cause an estimated eight percent of current workers to lose their jobs.

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1030 Words | 5 Pages

James Letts Mrs.Murphy Writers workshop 2/17/23 Why the minimum wage should be raised The debate about raising the minimum wage continues to rage on in the United States, with no clear consensus in sight. Lawmakers have long avoided this issue, claiming that raising the minimum wage will lead to job loss and higher costs of living. However, the reality is that raising the minimum wage holds many benefits for both workers and employers, and should be a priority for lawmakers. Currently, the federal minimum wage stands at $7.25, and 21% of workers in the U.S. are making less than that.

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869 Words | 4 Pages

In 20014 President Obama had raised the fact that minimum wage should be raised from $7 to about $10, but republicans continued to disagree (Driscoll, Sally Grant, Richard A, 2017). Currently New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle have the highest paying minimum wage, which is around fifteen dollars an hour but only in large businesses’. After the discussion of minimum wage being raised in certain states, eleven other states have decided to raise their minimum wage to almost double of what it used to be (Driscoll, Sally Grant, Richard A,

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