High Minimum Wage Essay

In the article “No, Seattle’s $15 Minimum Wage Is Not Hurting Workers,” Michelle Chen claims that raising the nation’s minimum wage will improve millions of employees and their families and the only adverse effects are just temporary. Seattle enacted a law with the intention of increasing the minimum wage over a period of time to $15 per hour, which is just now, thanks to the efforts of “Fight for 15,” becoming beneficial to the restaurant industry. It has been found that employers are abiding by the new law and employees are profiting from the change, at least in the restaurant business. Chen claims that Research finds that the new minimum wage is benefiting restaurant employees that previously earned less than $15, and furthermore clarifies

If the minimum wage goes up, this would affect profits as well as number of employees working at the restaurant. Currently the firm is able to hire a large team of servers at each location. This allows them to cater to each customer's needs and to complete orders on

After the protest in New York City, the issue of raising the minimum wage has come up once again. Seattle is spearheading this cause with a proposal of raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. This will help minimum wage workers a great deal by increasing their income. However, there are concern that this move could hurt certain businesses, which can lead to higher unemployment and contraction of the economy. The ethical issue surfaced as this will benefit some at the expense of other.

According to a study done by Perdue University, “…paying fast-food restaurant employees $15 an hour could lead to higher prices. Prices at those businesses could increase by an estimated 4.3%, according to the report” (Wihbey, Effects of raising the minimum wage: Research and critical lessons”). With a higher minimum wage, businesses must then pay their employees more, and to pay these additional expenses; they are coerced to charge more for their products, which impacts everybody, making it more difficult for people to provide for their families. The Cato Institute stated, “According to a review of more than 20 minimum wage studies observing price effects found that a 10 percent increase in the US minimum wage raises food prices by up to 4 percent” (Wilson, “Four Reasons Not to Raise the Minimum Wage”). If the federal minimum wage increases from $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour, it is being increased by slightly more than 206%, which, according to this study, could lead to almost an 84% growth in food prices. According to another study on the effects of an increase in the federal minimum wage on consumer prices in the Reason magazine, “Raising the minimum wage to $15 could increase the cost of food by 43%” (47: 10). After a significant increase in the federal minimum wage, the employees who did not lose their jobs would then be receiving

Supporters of an increase in minimum wage, the McDonalds employees that demand $15 per hour, argue that they need a “living pay”. They state that it will bring workers out of poverty and will have little negative effects. There is evidence to support this claim. One of them being that when the minimum wage increased from $6.25 to $7.25, there was no immediate negative affect.

We must make sure that the small franchises, that may only have a small amount of workers, aren't put out of business by financial change. The line is split directly down the middle, one half saying that the minimum wage should be raised and the other knowing that if the raise happens, many small businesses will collapse with the financial

Supporters of an increase in minimum wage, the McDonalds employees that demand $15 per hour, argue that they need a “living pay”. Furthermore, they state that it will bring workers out of poverty and will have little negative effects. There is evidence to support this claim. One of them being that when the minimum wage increased from $6.25 to $7.25, there was no immediate negative effect.

Unfortunately, if the minimum wage were to be increased, many employees would start looking for higher skilled workers. As Sally Smith, CEO of Buffalo Wild Wings, explains; “When you start paying $15 an hour, are you going to take a chance on a 17-year-old who’s never had a job before when you can find someone with more experience?” (Perry, screen 1). The minimum wage is set for on-the-job training, and many employers feel that a worker must prove their worth through not only training but working their way up to higher salaries. If a worker has no skills to offer due to little-to-no past experience, employers will be less willing to hire them for more money. Businesses cannot spend more on wages than they earn in revenue, so they will have to make decisions on the types of workers they will want (Freiling, screen 1). The amount of money workers get can be imagined as a ladder; minimum wage being the first step. As a

The fast-food workers are expressed as a pond in a bigger game. They have to deal with their low pay in order to ensure low prices by these franchises. Jencunas concerns go on to represent the beginning of a bigger chain effect. Briefly, he states that, “The average fast food store would go from profitable to unprofitable overnight. Some would close immediately, leaving their workers worse off than they were when working for $7.50 an hour, while others would raise prices and try and remain in business, hurting consumers” (“Don't Deserve Any More, or Less”). Evaluating his reasoning we see that if fast-food workers ask for a higher minimum wage, they will in return influence the profit margin and actually increase unemployment rate in this industry. The researchers go on to inform us that if their minimum wage increases the industry won’t be able to afford the change in their profit margin and result in bankruptcy. However, Mary Kay Henry, president of the Service Employees International Union, which supports the fast-food strike states a different claim:

The fight for raising the minimum wage to $15 that has motivated city campaigns to raise the low wage fast food workers. Fast food workers are teaming up for their own civil rights in support raising their low wage. Going $15 an hour rises by 67% of New York minimum pay.

To start off, raising the minimum wage would put greater prices of many food items. According to ThinkProgress.com raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would result in food prices to be increased by 4.3 percent. That 4.3 percent increase may not seem like much when you add it to a four dollar cheeseburger, but when

The raising of the minimum wage is a very hard topic to settle an agreement on, because it will create many difficulties. Many people support in raising the minimum wage, but many do not know how many pros and cons there are to raising the wage (Kusler). Even all the states and countries have different wages, because they have their own opinions on this topic (Kusler). Also, it is a very important topic, because this can affect many people if it goes the wrong way (Kusler). One of the many things is

Raising the minimum wage increases the productivity and customer service in a business (Time, 2017). For example, a business named “&pizza” pays their employees a starting wage that is higher than minimum wage (Time, 2017). Michael Lastoria, the CEO of the business states that “It’s a simple, but critical, concept: take care of your people and they will take care of your customers.” I agree with this statement. When a business or anyone for that matters show that they appreciate your work, it only makes one want to work harder and provide the best kind of service. Everyone benefits in this situation. There are many other businesses as well that have acted to increase the work wage above the required minimum. While it may be fair or ideal to get a minimum wage increase which would also increase productivity and customer service, others would argue that it would do more damage than

As for small businesses being harmed by an increase in minimum wage, Batra proves that a rise in minimum wage, as long as it is not faster than the rise in prices, will not adversely affect the businesses’ profits. He says that a business’s profit equals the revenue, less wage costs and all other costs. Batra offers an example with a popular fast-food franchise:

The article that we are critiquing is aimed to assess the blow of increased minimum wage from $4.25 to $5.05 per hour in 1992 on the employees working in fast-food restaurants in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The author has shown two comparisons in this study. The first comparison is the employment growth rates at the fast food stores in New Jersey and Pennsylvania, before and after the minimum wage raise. The second comparison is the change in employment rate from fast food stores (in both states) that pay higher wages initially to the lower wage stores. Krueger Card concluded that there was no indication or signs that the minimum wage increase, decreased employment