I decided to write about how I felt regarding the federal government's involvement in controlling the minimum wage and that I felt they are disconnected in their understanding of the impacts on communities when they raise the minimum wage. I work for a manufacturing company in the U.S. and I understand wholeheartedly what the impact of salary increases due to our bottom line. In very competitive markets the difference between success and failure can be separated by the difference of only a few dollars per part, and while in other countries, their manufacturing bottom line is subsidized by their governments we are forced to generate profits the old-fashioned way through supply and demand. This is why I decided to take a stance in my persuasive essay and challenge the status quo of the Department of Labor and Wages. No longer should the federal government dictate a national minimum wage but should allow each state to establish their own minimum wage based on the economic condition of their counties and their state, as a whole. I have been in the workforce for many years and have just recently enrolled at SNHU to finish my Business Degree. Most of my working career has been in management where I have personally hired over 350 employees over the years and truly understand that a person’s salary must be synchronized to the value that an individual brings to your company. The lower the wage the less important this really is, the higher the wage the more value that they have to bring to the table. As the minimum wage increases so must the abilities, skills and education level of the worker. My persuasive essay “The Economics Against a Federally Mandated Minimum Wage” presented many challenges since the issue impacts not only the worker but the business and the unemployed as well. I found this to be a very complex issue and required a great deal of extensive research and evaluation in order to find strong supporting evidence and articles that would support my position. For the peer review portion of this project, I received feedback from Patricia Scarano. She reviewed the early draft of my paper and offered a number of helpful comments. Patricia recommended that I move my Declaration of Independence reference to
Minimum wage has always been a controversial issue. Many politicians use the argument of minimum wage for their own political propaganda. Some may argue minimum wage should be raised, while others believe it will have detrimental effects on our economy if it is raised. Surprising to most people, minimum wage earners make up only a small percent of American workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, minimum wage workers make up about 2.8% of all workers in America. “The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24. These are high school and college students” (Sherk 2). But high school and college students are not the entire percentage of minimum wage earners. When minimum
There has been many conversations about what the positive impacts can come to America 's lowest income workers as a result of an increase in the minimum wage, and there has also been equally as many discussions over the negative effects the increase can have on similar people. This paper’s purpose is to combine each viewpoint and objectively analyze the arguments for and against an increase in the minimum wage. I will first discuss the benefits for an increase, then the disadvantages, and in the last paragraph, I will
Presently, the citizens of the United States of America are involved in an impassioned debate over the federal minimum wage. As of October 5, 2016, the federal minimum wage is set at seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour. There are numerous amounts of stakeholders when it comes to minimum wage. The three stakeholders mentioned in this essay will be Companies, Employees, and the Economy. In addition to the stakeholders, this essay will also dig into the history of the United States Federal Minimum Wage and see how it has progressed over the years and if it kept up with inflation over the years. With this information, society will see what an increase to the federal minimum wage will have on the United States economy and labor force.
The topic on whether the minimum wage should be increased our untouched has been a hot topic in the media and political scene lately. Both the republicans and democrats have spent some big bucks lobbying their insights on the matter. There has been a lot of subjective and objective arguments that are reasonable on both the pros and cons of increasing our national minimum wage. To add to the drama associated with this topic, President Obama endorsed a bill proposing a nearly 40% rise from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. The President has been campaigning around the country ever since his State of the Union address, pushing congress to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. Many say this is too high due to the costs of enacting such an increase, and many say this is a little low due to the increased cost of living. After looking into both sides of this debate, I realize that overall it would be better for the well-being of our nation to increase the minimum wage due to the short term and long term costs that an increase of the minimum wage could lead to. In terms of helping out the lower class and poor citizens of the United States, increasing the minimum wage level is not the answer.
Quinn and Castle explains why the government should raise the minimum wage and why it’s just common sense. They emphasis that it’s time for Congress to move ahead with this issue, one broadly supported by Americans before the article begins. The authors even show how as of today, as many as three quarters of Americans support an increase in minimum wage, with data polls disclosing majorities of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans in favor of the much need increases in the minimum wage. The authors also explain that by raising the minimum wage how it would save taxpayers billions of
The federal minimum wage has been in effect since The Great Depression. Recently, it has become a hotly contested issue. Should it be raised or not? The issue is a complicated one because some believe that more harm will come than good and many believe this because majority of people are misinformed on the impact raising minimum wage can have on the American economy and families. According to Cato Institute’s article on Reasons Not to Raise the Minimum Wage, the important or more discussed problems that are argued by antagonist are job loss, higher prices for consumers, and the little effect on reducing poverty. Although these problems seem significant, protagonist will say the war against poverty and income
With President Franklin Roosevelt’s cries for “A fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” the Fair Labor Standards Act established minimum wage in 1938 (Grossman). Overtime, the minimum wage has been raised in order to account for inflation (BLS 14). However, what the overall economic impact of raising the wage will be is once again a daunting and extensive question. The controversy over raising the minimum wage seems to come from often conflicting economic opinions. While raising the minimum wage is done with good intentions, critics argue that a higher minimum wage will harm those it is actually trying to help. Raising the minimum wage, while a controversial issue, will have an overall economic impact that reaches not only minimum wage
Opponents believe that increased labor costs force businesses to cut jobs to make up for the decrease in profit. Other topics Mejeur includes in the article are different approaches of states raising the minimum wage and arguments for and against supporting the minimum wage. Some states have already taken the initiative and raised their minimum wage above the federal standard, North Carolina however has kept pace with the federal standard. I will use the information presented in this article to analyze both sides of the minimum wage issue. In a poll conducted in November of 2013, “76% of the public supported raising the federal minimum wage to $9.00 an hour. In the same poll, 69% of those asked supported a future increase to match the cost of living, to keep pace with inflation.” This is a point I will use in my research to explain why raising the minimum wage is a good
In the United States, the minimum wage has been a controversial issue and one of the major debates among politics over the years. Leaders in both the House of Representatives and the Senate have discussed some possible advantages to raising the minimum wage along with the possible disadvantages of an increased minimum wage. Members on one side of the debate believe raising the minimum wage could hurt America’s lowest income workers and small businesses, while people on the other side believe the current minimum wage is not a living wage – therefore needs to be raised. In this report, information on both sides of the debate has been considered. As John Stuart Mill (One of the most influential thinkers in the history of liberalism, he contributed widely to social theory, political theory and political economy) once said, “The only way in which a human being can make some approach to knowing the whole of a subject, is by hearing what can be said about it by persons of every variety of opinion, and studying all modes in which it can be looked at by every character of mind. No wise man ever acquired his wisdom in any mode but this” (Mill 12). In this report, we will look at a short description and history of the United States’ minimum wage policies. In addition, we will discuss the status of the minimum wage and present the arguments for and against raising the minimum wage. Research involving minimum wage increases have proved that the minimum wage is an ineffective antipoverty tool. Studies also show that replacing the minimum wage with an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit would be much more effective (Sabia). While, members on both sides of the debate have strong arguments, the United States government should repeal, replace, and redefine minimum wage to reduce poverty among low-income workers and help America’s small businesses succeed.
The minimum wage serves as a mechanism to mitigate poverty and income inequality in our economic system. It is a powerful tool in our society, ensuring that working individuals are receiving a fair wage for their labor. This law plays a huge role in American business and seeks to ensure that our capitalist economy is not benefitting from under compensating the workforce. There is a great deal of debate surrounding this topic in the political arena today, with polarizing opinions on both sides of the issue. Currently there is a movement to raise the minimum wage to $15 dollars across the country. Supporters argue that it reduces poverty and inequality while raising the living standards of a significant portion of our society. Opponents on the other hand see the minimum wage as an attack on small businesses, increased unemployment, and overreach on the part of our government. It is important to realize that raising the minimum wage will result in more positive outcomes than negative but it must be done gradually. It would boost consumer
Let’s allow ourselves a moment to take into account the amount of employees in the United States who are minimum wage earners. To some of these earners, a higher-paying wage would assist them in many different ways. Minimum wage is a source of money that has been around for approximately 80 years. Back then, wages by the hour lead up to wages received cumulatively by the week, month or even year, and that still applies to us today. Congress has raised minimum wages in different ways, countless number of times. It’s already even planned for wages to further increase in the years to come. The argument about whether minimum wage amounts should be increased or decreased has generated much discussion. Nevertheless, it’s rendered significant in importance because minimum wage can be anybody’s source of important income.
Many people believe that raising the minimum wage would make all employees lives easier and that employers and the economic elite are the reason that the minimum wage does not rise. Not only does this line of thinking run contrary to the most basic economic principles of a free society, but it is also illogical. If government could raise the real wages of millions of Americans by merely passing a law announcing that fact, then why stop raising the minimum wage at all. A 500-dollar minimum wage would be better than a 10-dollar minimum wage. But the “logic” is perfectly consistent with the
Minimum wage is defined by the dictionary as “the lowest wage paid or permitted to be paid; specifically: a wage fixed by legal authority or by contract as the least that may be paid either to employed persons generally or to a particular category of employed persons.” Minimum wage is also referred to as the living wage. For many in and out of the political arena, minimum wage, is a topic of debate. The discussion involves the fairness of the current wage and the need to raise this wage to correlate with the inflation rate. While arguments can be rightly justified for both sides, many people have a strong opinion about increasing this wage, especially the workers themselves. This topic is part of a larger discussion about changing the
For people that want to live off a job that pays minimum wage than you'd love the very foolish law that california has been passed to raise minimum wage to 15 dollars by 2022. Which will cause inflation and “fast food restaurants will just become gateway jobs to start better professions” most workers will be replaced by machines. And for people that are on a salary they don't benefit from this because they have a set wages.
Minimum wage is something that is so hard to decide on because it affects different citizens in different ways based on how much they make. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the man who introduced minimum wage by creating a law called Fair Labor Standard Act of 1938 which was intended to increase the standard living of lower class workers. According to Minimum Wages by Linda Gorman, minimum wage laws set legal minimums for the hourly wages paid to certain groups of workers. As of right now, the federal minimum wage in the United States is $7.25 per hour, but state minimum wage is different based on their laws. For example, Nevada’s sate minimum wage is $8.25 per hour and California’s is two dollars higher sitting at a whopping $10 per hour. This has been a controversy that has been troubling everyone. We always find ourselves watching politicians argue with politicians, as well citizens arguing with other citizens, on what should be the minimum wage that would benefit the economy and our society we live in. Though these factors are not the only things we need to have in mind, we need to think about whether raising the minimum wage is something that we need to do, or what is going to be impacted by raising minimum wage. These questions have had many researchers beyond interested, figuring out what will change before it happens could lead us to prevent bad things from happening. There are several things that researchers have realized would be impacted by