Should Congress Raise Minimum Wage?
As our federal government debates the idea to raise the minimum wage, there are several interesting questions that occur. Most importantly, should we raise the minimum wage? I believe it is a bad idea to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 or more in a short period of time. I will explain why raising minimum wage radically would kill jobs and hurt our economy.
The main reason raising the minimum wage radically would kill the economy is the pressure it would place on small businesses. According to TheWashingtonPost.com article, Small Businesses are the backbone of the economy. They also cited that many studies from the U.S. Small Business Administration show small firms employ just over half of the private-sector workforce. Further these small firms have accounted for nearly two-thirds of nation’s net new jobs over the past decade and a half. Small business would not be able to afford the extra pay increases of the dramatic new pay scale. The small business owner would have to cut workers or cut hours to offset the pay increases. This would have a profound effect on the current economy. Also this would have a profound effect on other sectors of the economy. After reading TheWeek.com article, "There's no doubt that a higher minimum wage would create an immediate drag on earnings and create pressures for higher prices," I feel raising minimum wage radically would more likely lead to higher priced goods and products that you buy. The increased cost on the company from raising minimum wage would have to be absorbed by the consumer. This would be a direct effect of raising minimum wage approximately $3 in a short period.
There are several things which complicate the situation ...
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...y. Since that has not been the case, the government should consider an alternate plan for catching minimum wage up that isn’t so drastic for the small business owner.
Works Cited
Dunkelberg, William. "Why Raising The Minimum Wage Kills Jobs." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 31 Dec. 2012. Web. 01 Feb. 2014.
Harrison, J.D. "Who Actually Creates Jobs: Start-ups, Small Businesses or Big Corporations?" Washington Post. The Washington Post, 06 May 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
Hernandez, Sergio. "How Would Raising the Minimum Wage Affect the Economy? - The Week."The Week. THE WEEK Publications, Inc, 21 Feb. 2013. Web. 31 Jan. 2014.
Saltsman, Michael. "Raising Minimum Wage Won't Lower Poverty." CNN. Cable News Network, 01 Jan. 1970. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.
Wittner, Lawrence. "The Minimum Wage Should Be Raised."The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 02 Feb. 2014.
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.
Should the minimum wage increase? Well, raising minimum wage both has 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 advocates raising the minimum wage will grow the economy for everyone. In 2014, the president of the United States, Obama, called the current Congress to raise the national minimum wage, which proves that Obama is 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
Dudley. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. From “Raise the Minimum Wage to $10 in 2010.” Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign. 2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Nov. 2013.
Minimum wage should be raised to at least $15 an hour. Doing so would benefit lower classes of people greatly. Higher minimum pays will keep people from doing illegal things for money, give them more money to spend, and it would make minimum wage do what it’s intended to do.
Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”
Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been
"When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."
Gitterman, Daniel P. “Remaking A Bargain: The Political Logic Of The Minimum Wage In The United States.” Poverty And Public Policy 5.1 (2013): 3-36. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
"No family gets rich from earning the minimum wage. In fact, the current minimum wage does not even lift a family out of poverty."
Sherk, James. "What Is Minimum Wage: Its History and Effects on the Economy." The Heritage
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
Linda Gorman. "Minimum Wages." The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics. 2008. Library of Economics and Liberty. Retrieved April 24, 2014 from the World Wide Web: http://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/MinimumWages.html
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.
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.
Bernstein, Jared. “Would Raising the Minimum Wage Harm the Economy?” The CQ Researcher 16 Dec. 2005:1069.