Pros And Cons Of The Minimum Wage

Rex Huppke, a journalist for the Chicago Tribune, deftly discusses the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage in the last of a two-week series in “In the Minimum Wage Debate, Both Sides Make Valid Points”. Although I am for raising the minimum wage, Huppke’s presentation of the opposite argument does make one think beyond the gut reading that everyone deserves more money. Huppke’s argument that a large number of minimum wage earners are student of the elderly leads me to believe that a tier of wages would take care of the issue. For example, anyone working less than 35 hours a week would be paid at a certain rate; with full time getting an increase. I am not concerned by the argument that a higher minimum wage leads to lay-offs or price increases when most products sold in America are manufactured by cheap foreign labor. There is already a huge profit margin that could sustain such an increase. Rather than give discounts on goods and services, thus preventing employees from exercising the right to shop, stay or eat wherever the employee chooses, these employers trap workers into giving back the very money they have “slaved” for.

A minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage that employers have to compensate the workers for their service. Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. However, many states also have their own minimum wage laws. In those instances, the employee is entitled to the higher of the two minimum wages. In this paper we will discuss the brief history of the minimum wage law and its current legislation. We will also analyze the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage, and the merits of each argument.

Raising minimum wage has been a debate for quite some time. This Essay will go over Pros and Cons. I will research both sides of this ongoing debate. Listing a few from each side. Coming to a conclusion that raising minimum wage is what would be best for the citizens of the United States and for the economy.

The action of raising the federal minimum wage has been cast as a necessary change for the United States, and would result in ensuring that America’s workers are able to receive a reasonable living.Though the controversial issue has turned more complex, with many implications beyond just those who bag groceries, flip burgers, and clean offices. The issue is believed to have various pros and cons, and consequently sparking the ongoing debate on to, or to not change to wage.

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.

Millions of Americans live in poverty unable to find high paying jobs to support themselves and their families. A common belief is that paying a higher minimum wage would help lift people out of poverty by giving those with low paying jobs a higher income, however the evidence suggests otherwise. The 2016 race to the White House heating up, the minimum wage battle is at the forefront of every economic discussion. The rhetoric between candidates within and across party lines is intensifying. Many differing opinions are being heard. As the debate over whether or not to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $15/hour rages on, one side stands apart time and time again.

In 1938, the Federal Government established a minimum wage through the Fair Labor Standards Act, during the Great Depression. Its stated purpose was to keep American workers out of poverty and increase consumer purchasing power to help stimulate the economy. President Franklin Roosevelt, understood that the minimum wage should be a living wage, he stated “by living wages, I mean more than a bare subsistence level — I mean the wages of a decent living.” Today, the Minimum wage is critical for ensuring that hard work is rewarded with fair pay. However, its value has eroded substantially, factors such as inflation and rising prices are decreasing its purchasing power, and the minimum wage is no longer what it used to be, despite decades of economic growth. Today, a family can no longer live on minimum wage; and a single person working full time on minimum wage is barely above the poverty line. When President Obama gave his 2013 State of the Union address, he advocated raising minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $10.10-yet a year later, this still hasn’t happened. For many working Americans a higher minimum wage will make the difference between living in poverty or not, furthermore it provides a stepping stone into the middle class for many families. If the minimum wage is increased to equal a current living wage, the income inequality gap will decrease and the quality of life for those living on minimum wage salaries will increase,

To this day, the American economy and its workers are experiencing the effects of the enactment of the minimum wage law. The cost of living has increased exponentially and the minimum wage hasn’t risen effectively. In fact, 47 million, or 14% of Americans are living in poverty to this day (“Poverty: 2013 Highlights”

A primary problem with the minimum wage being increased is that it doesn’t provide a salary intended for people to live off of. Since the minimum wage’s inception, the goal has shifted from protecting unskilled workers pay, to giving high school and college students job experience before they build careers. For most people, minimum wage jobs are simply a way for inexperienced teens to make some money so they can start building the foundation of being able to finance themselves. In fact, although workers under age 25 represented only about one-fifth of hourly paid workers, they made up nearly half of those

Minimum wage laws are another good example of how government programs that are labeled as being for the poor almost always have effects exactly the opposite of those of which their well intentioned sponsors intend them to have. The do gooders who believe that by passing a law that says, “Nobody should get less than fifteen dollars an hour,” which will help people who need the money are actually doing nothing of the kind. What you are doing is to assure that people who skills are not sufficient to justify that kind of a wage will be unemployed. This can easily be seen in the high unemployment rate among teenagers. Teenagresr are the ones who are just coming into the labor market and

Millions of Americans live in poverty, unable to find high paying jobs to support themselves and their families. Common belief persists that paying a higher minimum wage would aid in lifting people out of poverty by giving those with low paying jobs a higher income, however the evidence suggests otherwise. As the 2016 race for the White House heats up, the minimum wage battle stands at the forefront of every economic discussion. The rhetoric between candidates within and across party lines intensifies by the day. While the debate over whether or not to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $15/hour rages on, one side continues to stand out from the other.

The article expresses the large concern that poverty is not due to low minimum wages, but instead “lack of work all together” (Cooper, 2016). Based off statistics, graphs, and trends, the article clarifies that there is either not enough work available that results in poverty, or some just do not work or were fired comprising 32% of the poverty population (Cooper, 2016). The article summarizes that politicians’ arguments sometimes assume that an increase in the minimum wage will result in lower poverty. However, the foundation of economic education states that this will actually do the opposite; when the minimum wage is increased, businesses no longer can afford work, and therefore jobs are lost, making it more difficult for workers who are already in poverty to find employment (Cooper,

The only way that minimum wage can be raise is with congressional actions, but sometimes these actions don’t really mean an increase in terms of real dollars. According to alec.org when government sets a higher minimum wage, employers face a higher labor cost that they seem their selves force to decrease other product expenses. As a result jobs available to less experience and less educated are reduce leaving them with less opportunities to find a job. As minimum wages increases business increase their prices too, to compensate their increasement in labor cost.

The minimum wage is the lowest possible wage that employers can legally pay their workers. Today, it seems like everyone has their own opinion on the minimum wage. Should it be abolished, raised, or should it remain the same? I will talk about the pros and the cons of raising the minimum wage as well as my own opinion if it should be raised or if it should stay the same.

The federal minimum wage was set on July 24th, 2009 at a rate of 7.25 per hour. Many attempts have been made to raise the federal minimum wage to 9.25, and then to 10.10, but have all been vetoed by former governors and Republicans. An increase in the current federal minimum wage will force companies based in the United States to turn to outsourcing individual job departments or outsourcing the company as a whole due to undesired financial circumstances. Low-skilled as well as disabled workers are automatically put at even more of a disadvantaged in the work place when their skill sets don’t meet the standard of a higher minimum wage. Unemployment and poverty rates will skyrocket, isolating areas already suffering from high living cost and expenses and forcing them further into depression. In contrary to what many people believe a higher minimum wage would not provide beneficial changes to the economy, instead, the effects of increased minimum pay would cause an unnecessary amount of harm to the country and divide among people.