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Why The Next President Should Raise The Minimum Wage

876 Words4 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. However, in the article “Why we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage” it is conversely argued by Kevin A. Hassett and Michael R. Strain that a …show more content…

Lowenstein believes that raising the minimum wage at a slow and steady pace would benefit unemployment rates and employers. “In effect, a minimum wage nudges employers to adopt a pay scale where they, also, are better off,” (Lowenstein, 2016). Business owners hire people when they feel it will enable them to serve a higher number of customers. “A business that is humming will not sack a worker just because the minimum wage is lifted by a buck,” (Lowenstein, 2016). This statement is implying that the minimum wage does not necessarily correlate with unemployment rates increasing. In this article, it is also stated that employers feel a responsibility to increase pay for workers further up the scale. Therefore, showing appreciation to their more tenured and skilled employees. This has the effect of improving the quality of life for many individuals. It is pointed out in the article that adjusting for inflation the minimum wage is federal minimum wage is currently lower than in

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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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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.

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The main issue with raising the minimum wage is, it actually has very little effect on reducing poverty. This is because the majority of minimum wage workers are part-time, young, still in school, and because very few people earn minimum wage. With the minimum wage being intended to help people with minimum skills, its purpose was not to help a person raise a family of 4. Since the majority of minimum wage workers are teenagers, raising the minimum wage to reduce poverty would have very little effects since most below poverty level are not “head of household” workers (Fuller). Out of the 75.3 million workers that are paid hourly, only 4.7% were paid in minimum wage and of those minimum wage workers, 59.4% are between the ages of 16 and 24 (Patton).

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