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The Pros And Cons Of Raising Minimum Wage

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What Do People Think About When It Comes to the Minimum Wage?
Many people are not concerned about raising the minimum wage because the majority support it. Greenhouse (2012) describes the opinions of people around the United States on minimum wage. Many state legislators are looking to raise the minimum wage in their respective states. A big part of this is because of liberals and labor unions are putting pressure on Congress. The number one argument for those who want to raise the minimum wage is that people cannot keep up with the standard of living. Greenhouse also describes the people who are against the minimum wage. The business community does not like the idea of raising the minimum wage. The argument for the opposing side is that raising …show more content…

According to a poll done by Quinnipac University, “78 percent of New Yorkers polled supported an increase, while 20 percent opposed it. Even Republicans favored an increase, 53 percent to 43 percent” (Greenhouse, 2012, para.14). Most people support an increase in minimum wage. Even Republicans who tend to favor less government interaction, want for the most part a higher minimum wage.
The underlying issue of why people support raising the minimum wage is due to a misconception. Sowell (2011) explains the zero-sum fallacy. The zero-sum fallacy is where in a transaction, someone is making a gain while someone else is losing. When it comes to minimum wage, it is believed that employees are on the losing side of the transaction. If the minimum wage is raised, the transaction between employees and employers becomes equal. Sowell goes on to explain why this is not …show more content…

Dube (2017) describes the correlation between job loss and minimum wage. Seattle was the first city in the United States to dramatically raise the minimum wage. The University of Washington did a study and found the impact of the new minimum wage. The study showed people who worked for more than the minimum wage got more work hours. Those who previously got paid less than the minimum wage got fewer work hours. The study showed a reduction of jobs of those who got paid the new minimum wage. There is also a discrepancy between Seattle and the rest of Washington. A graph is shown where Seattle earnings per worker are increasing while the rest of Washington is decreasing. The researchers of this do not have a definitive reason as to why, but it is believed that it is because Seattle has a booming tech industry. The tech boom may potentially curve the data. According to Dube (2017), “the job losses in the study were far greater than in a control group of similar areas in Washington state (where the minimum wage was not raised). Because the study found that low-wage workers lost income as a result of the increase” (para.2). When the minimum wage is raised, low wage workers see a decrease in income. The job losses entail that raising the minimum wage has a negative impact on low-wage

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Minimun Wage One of the major topics debated in America today is whether or not to raise the minimum wage. People think that rasing the minimum wage will help put an end to poverty. This is not true.

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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

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First, one main reason that the minimum wage should be raised is because the economy will prosper. “Economic Policy Institute stated that a minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three-year phase-in period” (ProCon). This quote shows that the economy will flourish from the increase of the minimum wage and that unemployment will decrease. Another quote that shows how raising the minimum wage will affect employment is “To the extent that through these contour effects it affords as much as 70 percent of the workforce greater purchasing power, it effectively increases aggregate demand for goods and services, which should ultimately lead to the creation of more jobs” (Challenger 19). Bryan Covert supports raising the minimum wage by

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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.

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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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After some research, he realized that both sides have valid points, just as the title tells us. Although the author says both sides have a valid argument he takes a stance for supporting raising minimum wage when it could negatively impact our economy in many ways such as destroying our economy by increasing poverty, inflation of prices for consumer goods, and increasing unemployment because of the shortage of of jobs due to businesses laying people off.

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When you raise minimum wage you raise the price in everything else for instance if minimum wage was raised ten percent that also raises restaurant prices 0.7 cents that may not sound like a lot but it starts adding up sooner or later and who knows then it could raises prices a whole dollar. Some people think that because the cities they live in are so expensive that minimum wage should be raised but if you live in an expensive city and are also living off minimum wage and can not afford it then you should not be living there. Also women think that they can not have a good lifestyle for their children with what minimum wage is paying. If you are living off minimum wage and trying to raise children then maybe you should find a different job where you can afford a life for your kids. Minimum wage should be raised because the economy is at a point where if minimum wage is raised there would not be a drastic change.

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Will you Agree with the Rise of Minimum Wage? Minimum wage has been something people talk about for years. There is of course are two sides to this debate. Many people agree and back up their decision in why it should be change. While the other side does have a different perspective about changing the minimum wage and feel life it should not be changed.

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For example in Seattle, the minimum wage was made to be $15, which led to a rise in unemployment. Many employers cannot afford to pay everyone that much money without taking a loss, so a higher wage means less jobs.

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Over a decade ago, Washingtonians had voted and favored the acknowledgement of the cost of minimum wage to continuously increase annually as long as the cost of living continues to surge in the state. Minimum wage is a living wage that aims to provide a standard living, account for the cost of housing and basic needs for an individual. As the cost of living continues to rise and minimum wage increases; economic inflation increases. Those that are entering the workforce for the first times and those without experiences obtaining employment are earning minimum wage almost to those that has already been in the workforce and with experience. People who are now currently working are oppressed by the increased wage of minimum wage.

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Some people might say that the companies would have to let employees go but a study in 1994 showed that there is no connection between minimum wage increase and job loss. Another study done in 2016 stated the same thing. In 2013-2014, 13 states increased their minimum wage and saw above average job growth. The Economic Policy Institute stated that a raise in the minimum wage would get the economy $22.1 billion and open 85,000 jobs. Increasing the minimum wage will benefit the

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Seattle 3 years ago became one of the first states to incorporate the $15 dollars minimum wage. The first study by a team of researcher at the University of California, Berkeley study, that raising minimum wage to level would lead to at most a slight reduction in the employment rate. Moreover, the Berkeley study focused on the restaurant industry because some restaurant workers are paid minimum wage. For instance, for every 10% that minimum wage increased, wages in the restaurant industry rose 1%. As a result, there was no noticeable effect on employment.

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The people who are opposed to minimum wage would completely argue that by raising these wages, it is only hurting those that minimum wage set out to help and for that same reason, they openly oppose it. In such a competitive world, those who fall behind will surely get left behind and it only will create a survival of the fittest situation which does not bring too many benefits into the

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We do not know how the rise of minimum wage will affect us in the future here in California, but in Seattle, Washington the minimum wage is now $11.00. The money it is not making a difference. A study in my fourth source “Jacob Vigdor, an economist at the University of Washington and one of the authors of the report...leading the researchers to conclude that the minimum wage reduced the number of hours worked quarterly by 3.2, roughly 15 minutes each week. Those figures do not include workers without jobs… Workers employed by thriving businesses who did not lose any hours could have enjoyed welcome gains.

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In the past three years, many politicians and labor unions have been pushing for an increase in minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest set wage by a law of a government body. An increase in minimum will benefit some people, and hurt others. An increase in minimum wage will cause benefit in the short run but will be very damaging to the economy in the long run. There should not be an increase in minimum wage because it is unhealthy to the economy in the long run and it will be the major cause of job loss, increase in inflation, competition, and the price level of goods and services.

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