Congress should raise minimum wage because it would boost the economy, it would create jobs, and it would not be right to let people who work full time to live in poverty. 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. Jobs and the economy are directly related, so if the economy is steadily growing, then the amount of jobs will too.
Raising the Minimum Wage helps the economy, if people make more money, they will spend more money, which benefits the encounter. Corporations need to take into account the idea that when wage is deducted from an employee, that employee is less willing to work and that can really affect the business. But if the employee is being paid a decent amount that is realistic for them, they are more willing to work for your business and will be a happy worker, which will be beneficial to your business. No one wants their business to have the image of abusing their employee’s. It can harm their business by the public viewing them as a company that doesn 't appreciate their workers.
Based on 2004’s Current Population Survey of America, today two million workers earn at or below minimum wage out of 73.9 million American workers who are paid at hourly rates (Characteristics). In 1996, the minimum wage raised to $5.15 per hour. Some people argue that this federal legislation helped low-wage workers a lot. Nevertheless, low-wage people are still suffering from hardship because of the big gap between their incomes and expenditures. In 1998, the minimum-wage was “$2,500 below the poverty line for a three-person family” if a worker works 40 hours a week without vacations (Rothman).
On October 21st 1938 it launched off with a price of twenty-five cents per hour. Minimum wage has been a great resource to this country and it had its final growth on July 24th 2009. As stated on the United Stated Department of Labor website, the FLSA federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour at this time. Also, the employees must collect overtime pay for any hours worked after 40 hours per week. It isn’t all that simple though, although they passed that law the 1938 minimum wage was not for everyone.
lowering the minimum wage would bring as many problems as solutions. For example our youth would be employed and our unemployment rate would go down, but the people that currently have jobs will be short on money. This is why minimum wage should stay where it’s at because weather you want to increase it or decrease it both will have a negative effect on our economy. However we could steadily lower it by small amounts which would have less of a negative effect it would give our economy a change to adjust to the changes without major
However there are plenty of reasons as to why the wage should be raised. Some may not think it, but raising the federal wage could very well assist the U.S with some of its largest economic problems; the increasing standard of living in the U.S, the recession in the economy, and even the ever inflating U.S national debt. For the Good of Americans The United States is home to nearly 317 million people to this date, with nearly 50 percent of them working on minimum wage jobs. That’s a lot of people working long hours every day for jobs that do not or barely pay them enough to feed themselves and their families. However, the rise of minimum wage would make plenty of jobs.
An increase to $10.10 would be the second-largest one-year change in minimum wage. The amount would fall second to the 1950 wage increase from $0.40 to $0.75. It is also one of the largest minimum wages yet, with the largest being 1968's $1.60 per hour, equivalent to about $10.71 now [8]. President Obama has increased the federal contractor minimum wage to $10.10, as an antecedent to a hopeful minimum wage increase that would expand the $10.10 wages to American civilian workers. The amount would be increased to the amount of $10.10 gradually over the years until 2016 [2].
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 person working at minimum wage will only make about $10,700 a year. When rent, groceries, bills and gas are all added up, it appears to be a nearly impossible task to keep a family afloat. But working 40 hours a week at $5.15 an hour, one makes less than $206 a week after taxes.
Raising minimum wage could be a step toward closing the gap between rich and poor, thus eliminating income inequality. Not including inflation, but minimum wage workers could have more money in their pockets. For the economy as a whole, minimum wage workers would spend more money that would put more money into the economy. For businesses, paying employees more could make them more productive and the business to have a lower turnover rate. Businesses would not have to spend more money on training and have experienced workers.
Minimum wage is the lowest amount of payment permitted by law. It protects wage workers from being ripped off or taken advantage of, and if a company wishes to pay them more, then they are free to do so (Cornell University Law School). There’s a political movement that’s currently sweeping across America calling for a raise in minimum wage. Many wage workers want to make more money, which would mean redistributing the income of a company; taking some away from other aspects of the business and giving it to the workers. The hope behind this idea for supporters is that raising minimum wage would be a way out of poverty or financial hardship for them and their family.