Many people, form state legislators to various interest groups, in the United States are advocating increasing the minimum wage. There are several reasons for this, including the thought of it boosting the economy out of recession. Some other reasons are that it will improve the standard of living, boost consumer buying power, and provide a more stable and productive workforce. While these reasons are good in theory, raising minimum wage can be detrimental to small businesses and the economy. While earning more money is a positive thing, the negative of job losses are bigger. By raising minimum wage, there could be substantial job losses for young workers. According to Opposing Viewpoints, "A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage reduces employment of young workers by 1 percent to 2 percent” (Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty, David Henderson). In 2007, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to raise the state minimum wage from its current $6.75 an hour to $7.75. Governor Schwarzenegger 's suggested 15 percent increase in the state minimum wage would destroy about 35,000 to 70,000 unskilled jobs. The 15 percent increase would end up placing 1.5 to 3 percent of young Californians out of work. According to David Henderson of Opposing Viewpoints, “[a] 15 percent increase in the minimum wage nationwide would …show more content…
According to Michael Reich, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, “[I]t would be disingenuous to suggest that the potential costs of raising the minimum [wage] could never outweigh the economic benefits. ‘We don’t know at what point that kicks in,’ he said. ‘We know that hasn’t happened at 50 percent or 55 percent.’” (Noam Scheiber, What a $15 Minimum Wage Would Mean for Your City) If the current national minimum wage is $7.25 and it is raised to $15.00 that would be a nearly 107 percent increase in minimum
Minimum wage would raise the wages of many workers and increment benefits what disadvantaged workers. An estimated 6.9 million workers would receive an incrementation in their hourly wage if the minimum rage were raised to $10.15 by 2015. Due to the spill over effect the 10.5 million workers earning up to a dollar above minimum wage would withal be liable to benefit from an incrementation. Women are the most astronomically immense group of beneficiaries from a minimum wage increase. Sixty percent of workers who would benefit from an incrementation are women.
Los Angeles is just one of many American cities using a rise in the minimum wage to try to address poverty and inequality. State and local governments are acting where the federal government has not. Just over half of American states have legal minimum wage rates above the federal minimum, which has stood at $7.25 an hour since 2009 (The Data Team, 2015). The big question with minimum wage is what should it be raised to?
Some reasons why people disagree is because they can lose their business by going bankrupt and housing prices increase. Increasing the minimum wage would cause economic strain in many ways to workers already living in poverty. Another problem resulting from an increased minimum wage is that of potential job losses. Economists believe that increasing the minimum wage will increase the unemployment rate because if the cost of hiring workers rises, businesses are most likely to hire fewer employees to cut their costs. So, there will be a higher unemployment rate.
Throughout the years the United States’ economy has had to overcome many obstacles to get to where it is today, through good times and bad. One of the major topics that have been discussed for over the past decade is raising the federal minimum wage. This specific topic has been debated all up through presidential debates and congress meetings to where even voters are influencing their governor votes on rather if they will fight for raising the federal minimum wage or not. The desire to increase the federal minimum wage has been gaining momentum throughout the years “as a way to alleviate rising wage and income inequality”, especially within this past presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump (Neumark). Many states have already raised the minimum wage by their choice, but doing this to the rest of the country through law
In the US there has been a movement to raise the federal minimum wage, which has been $7.25 per hour since 2009. A goal within this movement is to raise the federal minimum to $15 an hour. This would be a 107% increase over the $7.25 minimum wage. The question is if it is possible to expect that the minimum wage could be raised to $15 per hour without making a massive negative effect, to be more specific affecting the U.S. fast-food industry. The fast-food industry is a great discussion to look at.
Increasing the minimum wage only does positive growth because “...authors found little or no evidence of a negative association between minimum wages or employment”. ("How Does a Federal minimum Wage Hike Affect Aggregate Household Spending?”) Increasing the minimum wage will only cause positive growth in a topic of employment. Raising the
From the first glance, the rise of the federal minimum wage is beneficial to everyone. It will improve living standards and the country’s overall economy, create more job opportunities, and reduce the poverty rate. However, after analyzing some economic theories and reading presumption made by qualified economists the idea of increasing the federal minimum wage will not look as good as before. Oppositely to benefits the raise may adversely affect standard of living, cause layoffs and fewer hirings, or has negative effect on poverty rate. Both points of view show the significant impact that the raise of the federal minimum wage may cause and both of them are partly correct.
It has been nearly 14 years since the last increase in the federal minimum wage. To begin with, raising the minimum wage to match inflation and productivity would benefit the economy by increasing consumer activity and stimulating job growth while lowering the federal deficit. A journalist summarizes, “The federal
Introduction More numbers of state are joining to take action to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour in a few years even though there is a high disputing controversial all over the nation. The federal has set the minimum wage level to $7.25 on Jan. 1, 2015. In less than a year the index number of the minimum wage is going up automatically with cost of living. And eventually it will be likely to increase year by year with automatic and expectation index.
According to a professor named Robert B. Rich “$10.10 isn’t enough to lift all workers and their families out of poverty. Most low-wage workers aren’t young teenagers; they’re major breadwinners for their families, and many are women. And they and their families need a higher minimum wage.” Robert is saying that the minimum wage should be increased because for most people in a family that earns all of the money to support their family will need to get out of poverty. Therefore raising the minimum wage would be benefit.
According to Don’t Raise Minimum Wage written by Sean McGarvey, by raising the minimum wage less jobs will become available to laborers causing an inflation in prices to buyers. If the wages increase large corporations such as McDonalds and Walmart will lay off the majority of their workers in order to pay for the other employees raise. The employees that get laid off are often the ones that are too young and inexperienced to better the company. This could prevent teens and less experienced laborers from getting jobs. These companies also could higher their prices on their products in order to pay for the raises for their employees.
Since the Great Depression, there has been a minimum wage in America, but this minimum wage has changed 22 times since the Great Deprnbession. Many people say minimum wage should stay at $7.25 like it has been since 2009. Meanwhile, other people believe that minimum wage should be $15.00 so they can have more money to live comfortably. People think that a higher minimum wage will help, but it will hurt more people than it will help. If America makes the minimum wage $9.00, people will no longer be in poverty and it will make the economy balance out.
Is it a dream to make more of a minimum hourly wage? Or is it considered a nightmare? California legislators and Governor Jerry Brown have decided to increase the minimum wage by fifteen dollars by the year of 2022. With an increase in the minimum wage, residents of California are worried that they would lose more than they will actually receive. The people of California are actually making good points as to why the minimum wage of fifteen dollars should not be instated.
In conclusion, a federal minimum wage increase will significantly improve the standard of living of low-wage workers. To meet their basic needs, workers must be given a living wage. It is not only morally correct to do so, but also beneficiary to both ends. The increase in wages allows for a more supportable income, but it also stimulates the economy.
Many argue that an increase in minimum wage will help guide low skilled workers out of poverty and assist them into having a better career. That is not necessarily true, Many economists can agree that minimum wage jobs such as cashiers, host or a hostess are not jobs that meant to support a family. If anything by raising the minimum wage, it will put more people in poverty than guide them out of poverty. A raise in minimum wage will cause loss of jobs, an increase in the inflation rate, increase in