Most people do not dream of working the rest of their lives on minimum wage, but this is the harsh reality for many Americans. Minimum wage was set for workers, so they will not get under paid. Over the recent years, people are wanting to increase the minimum wage to put more money in their budget. That it will help bring people out of poverty and into a middle class citizen. Thus, this might be possible, but many say not without some serious consideration. There will be many consequences with increasing minimum wage. Although increasing minimum wage will give workers more money, minimum wage should not be increased because it will increase prices, cut jobs, and hurt national budget. While some may feel increasing wage will create additional financial issues, others feel that increasing minimum wage will give workers more money. The national minimum wage in the United States is $7.25. Employees and lawmakers feel that increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 will help boost the economy. The increase of minimum wage will bring people out of poverty and will be able to stimulate the economy by buying more items. This will help the nation pay back more debt and bring in more revenue for the country. Besides a positive effect with the nation as a whole, it will help workers financially. For example, by working thirty years with earning only minimum wage, some workers will benefit from increasing minimum wage. They can finally pay off old debts and loans since they will have more money in their pocket. Also, they will be able to pay bills on time and not have to pay a late fee. An increase in minimum wage will allow them to have additional money to buy items they need. Another way increasing minimum will help people is more independence ... ... middle of paper ... ...n more money into welfare to make up for loss of business. The nation will have to support businesses who go bankrupt due to them not being to afford paying employees. In addition, the nation will have to support small business trying to grow and expand. Therefore, increase in minimum will hurt the budget due to more money having to be put in programs and cause the nation more debt. Minimum wage increase will have a negative effect. Businesses will have to cut jobs or increase prices, so they will stay in business without losing any money. Also the nation’s budget will hurt due to more money going into different programs of unemployment and bankruptcy. Though others feel that an increase of minimum wage will cause workers to have more money in their pockets, minimum wage should not be increased because it will increase prices, cut jobs, and hurt the national budget.
Poverty continues to grow in America. The average minimum wage in the United States is $7.35 an hour- far too low in today’s society. Key expenses, for example, gas and housing prices, have gone up significantly since the minimum wage was last changed in 2007 (Wagner 52). The laws creating the minimum wage were intended to improve the standard of living and decrease poverty. Raising minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Millions of hard-working Americans are below the poverty line and need an increase in pay. Minimum wage must be raised because it will diminish poverty and assist the working class to support their families.
Well, raising the minimum wage has both the pros and cons. Still, the fact that increasing the minimum wage nationwide would increase millions of workers’ earnings is deniable. I suppose that’s why some people advocate raising the minimum wage will grow the economy for everyone. In 2014, the president of the United States, Obama, called on the current Congress to raise the national minimum wage, which proves that Obama actually supports raising the minimum wage. ‘February 2014 Congressional Budget Office Report The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income is the latest attempt to do so, in this response to Members of Congress with respect to an increase in the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour.’
Over the years the cost of living has been on the rise. Therefore, it is only right for minimum wage to increase as the cost of living increases. Many states and even some individual cities have taken the first steps toward raising the minimum wage. States like Washington and cities like San Francisco have already raised their minimum wage above the federal minimum wage. This is a very good start as it is becoming harder and harder for Americans to start and take care of their families. We need more states and cities to follow their lead some more Americans can feel more financially stable. This will make a better America for us all.
The minimum wage today has a lot of issues; some people say it is not enough to live comfortably. Many agree that there needs to be an increase in minimum wages and by doing that it can help with our issues of poverty. Statistics show that a worker who is full time and earning minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year, which is under the federal poverty line for a family of two. (Gitis, 2013) The problem with that is $15,080 is not a sufficient amount that a person can live and grow on. “A family of two can consist of a mother and son or daughter, father and son or ...
There are indeed risks of raising the minimum wage, but the rewards outweigh those risks, so the minimum wage should be raised. Some people who are against this may say ...“But other economists say raising the minimum wage actually hurts the very people it's designed to help: One of the basic laws of economics is that if you raise the price of something, there will be less demand for it. In this case, if you raise the price of workers, the demand for workers will decline. That could mean companies cutting the hours of employees, laying them off, or hiring fewer workers in the future.”... Yes, it could hurt the people it is designed to help, but different states have done this and found the opposite to be true. With America’s still fragile economy we need a boost, a helping hand; And this could be it. So next time you go down to vote on a mayor or maybe even the next president, remember that raising the minimum wage is a good thing, and you should be supporting
One way raising minimum wage will be beneficial is that it could lift many Americans out of poverty. Raising the minimum wage in Illinois, would help the families of more than 1.1 million workers who work to meet their children’s basic needs and “reduce the adverse effects of poverty on a child’s well-being” (Fiscal Policy Center). Studies have shown that raising the minimum wage would help 1 in 5 Illinois families who are in poverty. By raising the minimum wage in Illinois, it would help workers with families spend money on food, housing, gas, and other needs without going into poverty. Along with puling Americans out of poverty, raising the minimum wage could also stimulate economic growth. Raising the minimum wage, is stimulating economic growth by worsening the income inequality and substantially reducing the employee turnover for the business. Increasing a person’s income would raise their yearly earnings by $3,640 and “Improve the economic security and reduce the economies poverty rate” (Fiscal Policy Center). Low-wage workers spend most of what they earn on their basic needs, which is quickly spent and does not leave the worker with much money left to spend on other needs. This boost in the minimum wage will stimulate the economy and help create opportunities for more people, by hiring more workers to keep up with the
First, raising minimum wage affects the amount of job availability. Many businesses will reduce their amount of employees, because the business will not be able to afford to pay all the employees and still gain profit. As a matter of fact, James Sherk, a Bradley Fellow in Labor Policy, states “Businesses will not hire workers whose labor produces less than the cost of hiring them” (Sherk 2). On the other hand, Holly Sklar, a director of Business for Shared Prosperity, states “Contrary to what critics predicted when the minimum wage was raised, our economy had unusually low unemployment, high growth, low inflation, and declining poverty rates between 1996 and 2000” (Sklar 4). The problem with this statement is Sklar states that inflation was low, which is not the case now. Inflation is rather high, and unemployment is lower than ever. With every minimum wage increase in the past, inflation has also risen. Since minimum wage affe...
Increasing minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will boost the economy because if people are earning more money, then they will spend more money (Shemkus). In a study done by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, minimum wage workers who received a wage that included an extra dollar per hour created an average of $2,800 in new consumer spending the next year (Berman and Scheller). That is a significant amount of money from such a tiny change, and if enough people were given just a one dollar raise in salary, then that would mean millions of dollars in new consumer spending, so raising salary $2.85 would mean even more money for the economy.
Raising the minimum wage would affect employees. Supporters believe that raising minimum wage will improve people’s lives. We live in a consumer society. People who earn more spend more on products and services. As stated by BuzzFlash Headlines, “Higher Minimum Wage Would Create Over 100,000 New Jobs Nationally” (BuzzFlash Headline). Families would be able to use the money they earn to save for important things such as bills. If they wanted to, they could also buy more groceries or appliances. Non-supporters feel that raising the minimum wage will create many job losses. According to Economic Policy Institute, “Across the phase-in period of the increase, GDP would grow by about $22 billion, resulting in the creation of roughly 85,000 net new jobs over that period.”(David Cooper). If a family owned business has to raise the wage rate they pay, it is possible they will not hire as many people as they usually do. Businesses across the nation would be impacted by raising the minimum wage. According to the CNBC, “The great division among businesses and economists over the impact of raising...
Raising the minimum will end up hurting Americans more than helping them. The people that are for raising minimum wage are people who believe that increasing minimum wage can help those people who are unskilled and need an income they can live on. Yet, raising minimum wage would do the opposite and make employers have to fire people who earn minimum wage, because they can't afford the higher wages. People need to realize that increasing the minimum wage would hurt people more than help them. In the end increasing minimum wage would result in some people being let go, for the reason, businesses can't afford paying them minimum wage anymore.
The hard workers of the great state of California deserve a livable wage, but they won’t be receiving their living wage until 2016. Governor brown signed into law bill AB10 which will raise the minimum wage in California to $9.00 per hour beginning July 1, 2014, and then to $10.00 per hour beginning January 1,2016. The minimum-wage was adopted in California as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 during the Great Depression. Ever since then the minimum-wage has slowly been growing. According to The California department of industrial relations the California minimum wage has been steadily increasing since 1918. It has gone from .21 cents to 10 dollars an hour. Increasing the minimum-wage does many things; it stimulates the economy, allows people to live in better conditions, and helps level out the problem of income inequality. The minimum wage also helps in indirect ways. The raising of minimum wage achieves a domino effect, it allows for new job growth since people have more wants, it also helps to reduce crime, people that are able to pay their bills with what they have and don’t need to go and steal just to feed their families. It is commonsensical that the minimum wage be a living wage not a subpar amount that causes people to work double the amount just to make ends meet.
It is very difficult to live in America if you are living off of minimum wage, and many Americans are living off of it today. Raising minimum wages has its benefits like gaining more money to live better, but people do not see the down side of the increases in wages. With the increase in minimum wage, it also causes the cost of living to increase. How can this help the economy or help people? Minimum wages in America should not be increased because it will cause cost of living to increase, reduce employment, and cause businesses to lose money and workers.
By raising minimum wage it will in fact save the government money. With people earning more, they can provide more. It may help people get off food stamps, a supplemental nutrition assistance program because they now can afford food. In fact, children would be more financially secure due to the increase in their parent’s income. Raising the wage of Americans should be the first step into the fight to eliminate poverty. It will allow people to be paid the amount they deserve, help many low income families surpass the poverty line, and allow them to be more financially stabled.
Since its inception, the minimum wage has been a hotbed for debate. If today’s leaders could manage to increase minimum wage, millions of families would benefit.
A while ago I was told by my parents that I got a call from (my now boss), Donald Makepeace, asking if I was still interested in a job. We played phone tag for the longest tag, but finally I was hired at the local Dairy Queen. My parents originally said that I was supposed to contribute some money to help pay for insurance, gas ,and ect. After, seeing how much money I brought back week after week, they ignored that request. The truth of the matter is, it’s hard to live on a minimum wage job. In fact, many individuals must have at least two jobs to keep the bills meet. So, President Obama is trying to get Congress to pass an increase in the minimum wage. However, Congress refuses to raise the minimum wage. I agree with Congress, that we should not raise the minimum wage because these jobs are mainly for high school students and more people wouldn’t be able to hire people.