Minimum Wage On Poverty In Canada

2186 Words5 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: The negative and positive effect of minimum wage

ECON 5522 Term Paper The Effect of Minimum Wage on Poverty in Canada Sean Gao B00595861 I. Objective This paper focuses on proposing some useful methods to carry out research and collect relevant data in order to study and address an important and widely concerned issue in Canadian labour policy: “what’s the effect of minimum wage on poverty in Canada?” More specifically, this question can be represented as: 1) “Would an increase in minimum wage result in a decrease or increase in Canada’s poverty rate (as measured by the percentage of population living in poverty or under poverty line)?” 2) “Does minimum wage not affect poverty rate in a significant way at all?” 3) “Is minimum wage a useful and powerful anti-poverty tool?” II. Background Minimum wage, which is the lowest compensation that is given to workers by the employers, hourly, daily or monthly, is a very commonly used labour policy tool, and is diversified across provinces and territories in Canada. However, people’s opinions towards the effect of minimum wage differ. Those who are in favor of the implementation of the minimum wage regulations argue that it increases the standard of living of workers, reduces poverty and inequality, increase morale and in turn the efficiency of businesses. Whole those who disagree view minimum wage laws as an inefficient tool of reducing poverty. Moreover, they claim that it increases unemployment. Economists are in less favor of minimum wage than the general public is. The argument that is widely recognized by economists was the one provided by George Stigler in 1949, who argued that the minimum wage was ineffective at reducing poverty. Based on his theory, employment may fall more in proportion to the wage increase, thus de... ... middle of paper ... ...2004 Sep-01 $7.05 May-01 $7.60 Jan-01 $6.80 Feb-01 $7.45 Oct-01 $6.80 Jun-01 $6.25 Jan-01 $6.30 Apr-01 $7.25 Sep-01 $7.00 2005 Mar-01 $7.55 May-01 $7.75 Apr-01 $7.15 Feb-01 $7.75 Apr-01 $7.15 Jan-01 $6.50 Jun-01 $6.75 Jan-01 $6.50 Jul-01 $6.70 Apr-01 $7.60 2006 Mar-01 $7.95 May-01 $8.00 Apr-01 $7.50 Feb-01 $8.00 May-01 $7.60 Jan-01 $7.00 Oct-01 $7.50 Jan-01 $7.00 Jul-01 $7.25 Apr-01 $8.00 Sep-01 $8.00 2007 Jan-01 $8.25 May-01 $8.60 May-01 $8.50 May-01 $7.75 Oct-01 $8.00 Mar-31 $8.75 May-01 $8.10 Apr-01 $8.00 Mar-31 $7.75 Apr-01 $8.50 Apr-01 $8.40 2008 May-01 $9.25 Jun-01 $8.20 Oct-01 $8.40 Mar-31 $9.50 Apr-01 $8.60 Jan-01 $8.50 Jul-01 $9.00 Apr-15 $8.00 Sep-01 $8.25 May-01 $8.75 Oct-01 $9.00 Apr-01 $8.80 2009 May-01 $9.50 Jun-01 $8.70 Oct-01 $9.00 Mar-31 $10.25 Apr-01 $9.20 Oct-01 $9.65 Jan-01 $9.50 Jul-01 $10.00 Apr-15 $8.50 Sep-01 $9.00 Oct-01 $9.50 2010

Show More
Related

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised

    2107 Words  | 5 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Case Studies: Poverty: Case Study In Canada

    1791 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Canada there is no official, government mandated poverty line. It is generally agreed that poverty refers to the intersection of low-income and other dimensions of ‘social exclusion’, including things such as access to adequate housing, essential goods and services, health and well-being and community participation. In Canada, the gap between the rich and poor is on the rise, with four million people struggling to find decent affordable housing, (CHRA) and almost 21% of children in BC are living in poverty it is crucial to address poverty (Stats Can). In class we have considered a number of sociological lens to examine poverty. Structural-functionalists maintain that stratification and inequality are inevitable and

    Read More

  • Pros and Cons of Raising Minimum Wage

    1941 Words  | 4 Pages

    Understanding the basic concept of minimum wage is important for every single individual. We all live in this world together, and it is obvious that there is an order. In order to continue our lives and afford our basic needs, we all need to work and gain wealth. As the old adage says ‘‘There ain’t such a thing as a free lunch. ’’

    Read More

  • Raising Minimum Wage Essay

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    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”

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage

    747 Words  | 2 Pages

    A federal minimum wage was first set in 1938. The first minimum wage was just 25 cents an hour in 1938. Can you imagine surviving off of 25 cents an hour? Now just over 70 years later the federal minimum wage is now 7.25. The question at hand is the federal minimum wage enough to meet the minimum requirement for a good, happy and healthy life? Some states and cities say no. While a select few states and cities have mirrored the federal minimum wage of 7.25, some states have placed their state or city/county minimum wage marginally higher than the federal minimum wage. So why would some states prefer to have a higher level than required by the federal minimum wage when some state have decided to match or even go below the federal minimum wage level. The answer to this question lies within each state city and county and how they perceive the cost of living in the presiding area. Minimum wage needs a makeover in America despite some of the negative effects that may come along with it. This paper will explore the reasons behind federal and state minimum wages and why some of them differ among states counties and cities across America.

    Read More

  • Raising the Minimum Wage, A Speech Outline

    1469 Words  | 3 Pages

    A. Increasing the minimum wage would help the families of low paid workers and reduce the number of people living in poverty.

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage: Impact on American Poverty

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Currently, in the United States, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for the past six years; however, in 1938 when it first became a law, it was only $0.25. In the United States the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 by a significant amount due to changes in the economy. Minimum wage was created to help America in poverty and consumer power purchasing, but studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not reduce poverty. By increasing the minimum wage, it “will lift some families out of poverty, while other low-skilled workers may lose their jobs, which reduces their income and drops their families into poverty” (Wilson 4). When increasing minimum wage low-skilled, workers living in poor families,

    Read More

  • The Need to Address Poverty in Canada

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    Poverty is a serious issue in Canada needs to be addressed promptly. Poverty is not simply about the lack of money an individual has; it is much more than that. The World Bank Organization defines poverty by stating that, “Poverty is hunger. Poverty is lack of shelter. Poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor. Poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time”. In Canada, 14.9 percent of Canada’s population has low income as Statistics Canada reports, which is roughly about two million of Canadians in poverty or on the verge of poverty. In addition, according to an UNICEF survey, 13.3 percent of Canadian children live in poverty. If the government had started to provide efficient support to help decrease the rates of poverty, this would not have been such a significant issue in Canada. Even though the issue of poverty has always been affecting countries regardless of the efforts being made to fight against it, the government of Canada still needs to take charge and try to bring the percentage of poverty down to ensure that Canada is a suitable place to live. Therefore, due to the lack of support and social assistance from the government, poverty has drastically increased in Canada.

    Read More

  • America's Minimum Wage Problem

    1114 Words  | 3 Pages

    America is currently working on the issue of whether the minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 to $10.10 and economists are studying the effects of the possible increase. Minimum wage workers deal with struggles such as affording health care, paying for education, providing food for their families, putting many hours of work in while making little income and paying their bills. America’s decision to raise the minimum wage would help low wage workers to make higher incomes and would overall strengthen the economy, pulling Americans out of poverty. Americans may hold a minimum wage job if they do not have money to attend a college or university to obtain a degree in order to find a career.

    Read More

  • Essay On Poverty In Canada

    985 Words  | 2 Pages

    Poverty is the state for the majority of people in this world. In Canada there are over 4.5 million people living in poverty. Poverty is not only an issue in canada but an issue that needs to be focused on all over the world. About 14% of canada is living under the yearly income threshold which means they are living in poverty.

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage In Canada

    328 Words  | 1 Pages

    Many people believe that the minimum wage is fairly low and most of you would love to see the pay be raised. But I want you to think for a second. How many people do you know work in minimum wage jobs? Not that many. And the ones that do, are in our age group. This statistic can be applied to the general population. In Canada, only 27% of all workers earn minimum wage and 70% of the 27% are between 15 to 24 years old. This means that most of the minimum wage workers are low-skilled and have little to no experience. The whole point of minimum wage jobs is for entry-level workers to gain valuable experience providing them with the ability to advance further and increase their hourly wage. However, if the minimum wage is increased, it lowers the

    Read More

  • Arguments Against Minimum Wage

    237 Words  | 1 Pages

    Minimum wage, a basic standard that sets the lowest wage rate that an employer can pay employees. One of the main reasons of minimum wage is to protect non-unionized workers in unskilled jobs. This is because a minimum wage constitutes a base that employees or their unions may use as a starting point. Adjustments to the minimum wage are required from time to time to account for changing economic and social conditions. As a citizen working 2 minum wage job to support my family, i beilive we need to increase minuim wage. In canada there is about 3.2 million people like me, who live in low income, including 634,000 children. Latly there has been a high increase in the poverity rate. There are between 150’000 and 300’000 indivuals that experianse

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage

    656 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Child Poverty In Canada

    1444 Words  | 3 Pages

    In 1989 all parties in the federal government unanimously agreed to eliminate child poverty in Canada. There was no plan and consequently the number of children living below the poverty line has steadily risen. The poverty of children cannot be addressed without dealing with the poverty of adults. Those provinces with a poverty strategy in place have seen some success in reducing the effects of poverty, while the provinces without strategies in place have seen their poverty levels increase. The most interesting solution that is currently out there revolves around a guaranteed annual income to assist in raising people below the poverty line to the poverty line. Though this is one possible solution, it requires that Canada recognize poverty

    Read More

  • Poverty: Phillipines vs Canada

    1047 Words  | 3 Pages

    I have conducted extensive research on the needs of the country in question. Throughout the course of my research it has become clear that there can be many trends in the data and statistics of economic concerns of many countries. In order to better illustrate my point I have chosen to compare two different countries while observing one economic concern. I have decided to illustrate the concern of poverty in the economy of the Philippines and Canada.

    Read More

More about Minimum Wage On Poverty In Canada

Open Document