I am currently completing an on-campus Microeconomics course. When the subject of minimum wage came up, one of the other students made the comment that he thought minimum wage needed to go up because he had been in a job for almost a year and was still making minimum wage. Why should a person who is working at a fast food restaurant make more than what another person is willing to do the job for unless they have a special skill? The current debate is whether the minimum wage should be raised to $15.00. According to Jonathon M. Trugman in Raising Minimum Wage Would Cost a Million People Their Jobs even a small increase in the minimum wage would cost over 500,000 jobs. He states “The minimum wage is by design an entry-level wage; it is not supposed to be permanent.” Mike Patton in The Facts on Increasing the Minimum Wage takes this point a step further and says …show more content…
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. Patton after examining both sides of the argument believes that the worker should earn their wages by working hard and progressing up. Trugman seems to believe that if businesses had a lower corporate tax rate than the employee’s salary increase would be a natural side effect. I think Patton said it best with this quote” America is still the “Land of Opportunity” for those who will roll up their sleeves and work hard to obtain the necessary skills for a higher