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The Pros And Cons Of Raising Minimum Wage

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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 …show more content…

Many of these headlines have read something like “Income Inequality Gap Growing” or stories of teachers, or Boeing employee’s complaining of unfair wages. While large company executive salaries have hit record numbers; but over the last year, one of the biggest headlines has discussed the idea of raising the minimum wage to help fight the growing income gap between the rich and poor in this country. Federal, State, and City governments have been debating this topic frequently over the last year; President Obama has made a public call for a Federal $10.10 minimum wage, while cities like Sea-Tac, Washington put the issue on the November 2013 ballot for a $15.00 minimum wage, which voters narrowly approved, but is still being challenged in court (Martinez …show more content…

(2014, February 13). $15 wage floor slowly takes hold in SeaTac. The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2022905775_seatacprop1xml.html
Grossman, J. (2014, January 1). U.S. Department of Labor -- History -- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938:. U.S. Department of Labor -- History -- Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938:. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.dol.gov/dol/aboutdol/history/flsa1938.htm
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The Recession of 2007–2009. (2012, February 1). . Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.bls.gov/spotlight/2012/recession/pdf/recession_bls_spotlight.pdf
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2012. (2013, February 26). U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2012.htm
Fairchild, C. (2013, February 13). Minimum Wage Would Be $21.72 If It Kept Pace With Increases In Productivity: Study. The Huffington Post. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/minimum-wage-productivity_n_2680639.html
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). 2014 Poverty Guidelines. (2014, January 22). ASPE. Retrieved April 30, 2014, from

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In the article, “Minimum Wage Hikes Hurt Low-Income Workers,” Jame Sherk debates how an increase in the minimum wage would impact workers and corporations. Sherk builds his argument by first explaining the recent history of an increasing minimum wage and how much it has risen. Following, he argues why it would hurt businesses and low-income workers. Lastly, after illustrating the consequences, he offers statistical evidence to support his claim and to prove to the reader why the hike would only hurt both businesses and low-income workers. Sherk’s use of evidence and explanation offers a strong argument and a clear stance.

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This article was written by Thomas E. Perez, a democratic politician and the former secretary of the United States Department of Labor. He is a proud supporter of raising the minimum wage and his political party has nothing to do with his beliefs in this topic. President Donald Trump, is a republican and during his campaign he expressed the importance of raising minimum wage. In this article, Perez starts off by stating his opinion, “I don 't think a country as great as ours should pay people so little that they need help from the state just to survive.” He automatically sets the mood and lets the reader know what it is that he will be expressing throughout his article.

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In theory, raising the minimum wage would lessen America’s dependence on such benefits. If workers are making more money, Hanauer says that workers are spending more, and increasing the demand for more workers as opposed to cutting jobs. Hanauer closes his essay by telling the reader to see the economy as Henry Ford did; an effective economy is one that works for all not just part of the country. ANALYSIS: After reading Nicolas Hanauer’s essay on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, I take an affirmative stance on this issue. The main reason for siding with Hanauer is that he is thinking about how many people can get an upper hand with a wage increase.

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The topic of minimum wage is one that can lead to heated debates from both sides of the aisle over how much a person should be getting in payment versus how much work they do, or how hard they work to earn the payment. Countless people today are not getting paid the amount they should be based off of the work that they are putting in to their job. There are arguments leaning towards the raising of minimum wage, and there are arguments leaning against the raising of the minimum wage, however one of the arguments I find persuasive. There are some arguments that lean towards the raising of the minimum wage. The first argument presented involves job creation in the United States.

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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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In the article “A $15-Hour Minimum Wage Could Harm America’s Poorest Workers”, Harry J. Holzer outlines the effects of a fifteen dollar federal minimum wage. He interprets statistical data from different credible analyses and thoroughly explains the meaning of each. The author also does a great job informing us the results from past federal minimum wage increases. He recognizes that jobs will inescapably be lost; therefore, many people will be unemployed. While some citizens believe that a $15 raise will help the economy, the author comprehends the negative consequences of any federal minimum wage increase on the economy.

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The Minimum Wage Gap is a Controversial Topic That Is hotly debated in congress it has been a Conversation of interest ever since 1912 in this country of Massachusetts. Played with idea of raising the low income gap and starting a real middle class in their state. This would allow the poor to be able to compete fairly for goods and practical living conditions. The next year eight other states would follow in their footsteps (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah,) but this ruling would only pertain to Minors and women and really didn’t help men with big family’s or men in general who in those days were the bread winners of the household. Even still these laws were greatly denied true fulfillment due to court rulings.

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The people who are against the increase of minimum wage often argues that it will harm young adolescents the most, and that they will need the experience of working at the minimum wage. It is significantly unfair with other states, such as California and Massachusetts. The minimum wage for these states gives other states a disadvantage in the economy. I feel that every state should have the same price range of minimum wage just to make every state feel that they are equally the same without any disadvantages. Raising the minimum wage is something that should’ve been done a long time ago.

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Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Oct. 2015, https://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2015/article/labor-law-highlights-1915-2015.htm. “Minimum Wage.” DOL, https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/wages/minimumwage. “National Labor Relations Act.” American History Online, edited by Karen Ellicott and Timothy L. Gall, Lincoln Library Press, 2012.

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A minimum wage increase from “$7.25 to $10.10 would result in a loss of 500,000 jobs”. ("The Effects of Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income”) This claim is better because it shows how raising the minimum wage will decrease job growth instead of increasing it. But, the minimum wage should be increased because increasing will also increase economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum

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Los Angeles is just one of many American cities using a rise in the minimum wage to try to address poverty and inequality. State and local governments are acting where the federal government has not. Just over half of American states have legal minimum wage rates above the federal minimum, which has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009 (The Data Team, 2015). The big question with minimum wage is what should it be raised to?

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1741 Words | 7 Pages

In today's society many people work at a minimum wage job with getting paid $9.00 dollars an hour. Every year it seems to increase by $1.00 dollar by 2016 the minimum wage and what the workers will be getting paid will be $10.00 dollars. Which is getting close to someone who sits in an office all day and works for a big corporations or big business. Coming from someone who is a teenager and in high school working at minimum wage is not entirely bad but when they take out taxes and being underage is very unacceptable. What is going on today is in New York Board , many minimum wage workers are demanding that they increase minimum wage to $15.00 dollars an hour instead of 9 because many people in that state are tired of being paid under what

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We find no evidence that minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 affected overall state poverty rates. ”(Leigh, A. (2007) Proposals to increase the minimum wage are politically popular because they are widely seen as an effective way to help the working poor. In spite of it, state and federal minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on reducing the poverty rates. “Minimum wage increases have thus far provided little more than symbolic support to the working poor.”

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The federal minimum wage has long been a topic of controversy in U.S. domestic policy. In fact it’s been in contention since its inception. The U.S. followed the models lead by Australia and New Zealand, which established the world’s first minimum wage policies in the 1890s. The Progressive faction here at home introduced the idea of a U.S. minimum wage; their argument was that a wage should be sufficient enough to support a common worker's necessities. This resonates just as arguments used today, and proponents even go further in prospects of increasing the Federal minimum wage.

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Across the country there is a clear discrepancy between minimum wage and the living wages. The national minimum wage is set by the business secretary each year on the advice of the Low Pay Commission an is enforced by HM Revenue and Customs. In contrast, the living wage is an informal benchmark, based on the amount an individual needs to earn to cover the basic costs of living in their respective state. Workers across the country have been engaged in a fierce struggle in the fight for living wages. In spite of persistent efforts, Congress has yet to move on increasing the federal minimum wage above $7.25.

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