President Obama has approved a plan to increase the Federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016. There are those that believe raising the minimum wage will benefit low wage earners and boost their families over the federal poverty line. However, others believe that it will negatively affect the same group of people it is proposed to help. Many believe unemployment will increase due to less job opportunities and employees being let go, and businesses will be put in danger. Small businesses will be in more danger than large business will be. Majority of small company’s pay their workers the minimum wage, while employees at large businesses are paid by salary. Due to the increase in the federal minimum wage, small businesses will receive less profit for their company, will have to lower their employee count and teenagers will have a decreased opportunity to get an entry level job. With an increase in minimum wage, businesses are going to see a decrease in their profits. According to the Center for American Progress, “calculations show that prices would have to rise modestly and profits would have to fall in order to accommodate President Obama’s minimum wage proposal.” It is common sense that since the pay rate for employees is going to increase, than the business will be spending an increased amount of money on labor costs. In addition, businesses are going to need to increase the prices of the items they are selling. It is a known fact in economics that when prices rise, people buy less of the product or service (Sherk). If people buy less products from a business, than the business will have a decreased amount of sales. The company won’t be making enough money through selling products to have a large amount of pr... ... middle of paper ... ...he working field. Small businesses need to have employee positions available so more teenagers can experience working at an entry-level job before a higher level. Works Cited Dunkelberg, Bill. "CBO Finds Federal Minimum Wage Increase Could Cost 500,000 Jobs." National Federation of Independent Business. N.p., 15 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Mar. 2014. "Entry Level Job." BusinessDictionary.com. N.p., 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. Sherk, James. "What Is Minimum Wage: Its History and Effects on the Economy." The Heritage Foundation. N.p., 25 June 2013. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. Walker, Scott. "Minimum Wage Jobs Are 'Overwhelmingly' For Young People." PolitiFact Wisconsin. N.p., 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2014. Weller, Christian. "A Higher Minimum Wage Will Hurt U.S. Businesses." Center For American Progress. N.p., 15 Feb. 2013. Web. 29 Mar. 2014.
“Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 impassioned speech calling on Congress to help the one-third of Americans who were “ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished” heralded in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and with it a national minimum wage. Echoes of that speech are still heard today. Senator Edward Kennedy (1989: S14707), in his criticism of the most recent increases in the minimum wage, declared:
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour has been extensively debated over the last year or so. Minimum wage is the undermost wage allowed by law to be given to an employee for their services. Introduced in 1939, its purpose was to stabilize the economy, which was healing from the Great Depression. Most importantly, it was designed to protect the health and welling-being of employees. Currently, the Federal Government 's minimum is $7.25 per hour ($14,500 per year). The ones in favor of the increase are saying that it used to be a living wage; however, now it is not and it now needs to be line with changes to the cost of living. In addition, an increase in minimum wage can increase the productivity and decrease income inequality and poverty. On the other spectrum, the ones who are against the increase are saying that the increased labor cost will drive up unemployment, affect small businesses negatively, and cause other workers from different
In this article, James Dorn and David Cooper argue whether raising the federal minimum wage will help or hurt low-wage workers. James Dorn, Vice President of Academic Affairs at the Cato Institute, argues that raising the federal minimum wage would hurt low-wage workers by reducing job opportunities and raising prices. Dorn also states that the federal minimum wage is responsible for high unemployment among teenagers and minorities and lower productivity among low-wage workers. David Cooper, an analyst from the Economic Policy Institute, argues that the federal minimum wage is not a living wage and that raising the minimum wage doesn’t have a significant effect on employment. Cooper also states that eighty percent of low-wage workers are at least twenty years old and that eighty-five percent of small businesses already pay their employees more than the minimum
"Raising the minimum wage will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities." -- President Obama
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
Since the cost of living has gone up drastically, raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do to boost the economy, lift workers morale and productivity, and improve the self sufficiency of potentially millions of American workers. Raising the minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Even businesses agree raising the minimum wage would give many customers more money to spend in turn increasing sales and higher profits for the companies. Therefore, raising the minimum wage would help and not hurt the economy and it would give many Americans a better livelihood and a more secured life. In today’s society it is very expensive to live in American and even getting by daily is difficult if you are living on minimum wage. Therefore, anyone who thinks the minimum wage should not be raised should try living in
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...
Having minimum wage causes many people to become jobless all so a certain amount of people could live comfortably. Cooper believes that today’s workers are “stuck in jobs that pay so little they struggle to afford basic necessities.” Yes, some people may have trouble affording basic necessities, but at least they have some money that will help them out even if it’s just a little. A low paying job can make a difference between having nothing to eat at all or three small meals every day. If minimum wage increases, than the lives of many people would become even more difficult, and unbearable. A job that pays a little money is better than no job at all.
This can relate to the essential question because when teenagers have jobs they are earning money which could be spent on luxuries for teenagers but not enough money where they should pay for necessities and luxuries. It shows maturity for the teen. Another example of how teens can get money comes from Demetria Gallegos who is an editor for the Wall Street Journal she says that “teens can get money from their parents and or work off what was paid for.” This is important for teenagers because it shows how you don’t even need a jo to get money from your parents. One benefit of having teens
A small amount of business’ actually hire fourteen year olds. Mostly because of the three hours work time allowed for fourteen year olds on school days. A lot of business’ hire adults because of the unlimited work hours they can have. Having employees who can work for a mass amount of time can
The main reason why teens should be allowed to hold jobs is because they will learn how to manage time and take care
Many critics claim that that raising minimum wage increases unemployment, especially for unskilled workers, and harms small businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants. The argument declares that companies such as these rely mostly on unskilled workers for labor, and if the minimum wage increases, then their profits and, therefore, hiring would decline, creating a...
An important topic in today’s society is teen labor. It may not seem like it but getting a job as a teenager can be very difficult, but imagine maintaining a job with most of your day occupied by school and homework. This doesn’t include extra curricular activities like before and after school football, soccer of basketball. This also doesn’t include is clubs like chess club debate club and robotics club, just to name a few.
Working teaches students about responsibility and also reinforces what they are leaning in school. Having a job while in high school is a catalyst for future responsible actions and thinking. Teens are accountable for work attendent, job perfromance, and customer satisfaction. The attendence is very essential in a work place. Teens will demonstrate the skills they acquire from work whenever they go to work, and it will be evaluated on their evaluation worksheet by their employers. For example, if teens have missed class, they would be mark for absence and it will later affect their grade. Being resposible in early ages is not very easy, some of them need to take time to work on what they are lacking of. Working will make teens feel more confident in life especially in their job performance. Having responsiblity while performing the task is important because teens know what they should and should not do that will help them avoid making mistake at work or it will lead them to satisfy the customers. In fact, students can use what they have been taught in class and apply it to their job skills because studying and practicing always come along way. The more the teens practices, the more they learn from work experiences. No matter how old they are, as far as student...
...to the fact the being employed increases college graduation rate and teaches many skills that are not taught with in any level of school. The issue is increased as because many of these teenagers are also not in school. A possible solution to this problem is for companies to offer apprenticeships to promising high school students.