One of the cons to increasing the minimum wage is that it helps larger corporations and hurts smaller businesses, therefore, competition is decreased. The bigger companies use raising wages acts as a barrier to entry to new business entering the market and create a monopoly for larger companies who have more profits to afford the increase. An example of this is Wal-Mart, who can afford to pay employees nine dollars and twenty cents an hour but a little store such as Meijer 's who does not make as much profit would limit their hiring of new employees and would cut hours to compensate. A family store might decide that the cost of entering the market is too high to endure as they build up their clientele and develop their business they decide not
Almost all articles, for or against the raise, agree that as long as the poverty line is not adjusted, then state and federal services that low-income workers were previously using would decrease. This means that the money that is no longer being distributed in food stamps or other services can be returned to Washington, D.C. and be redistributed. Economists say that raising the Federal minimum wage to $9 will restore the dollar to its real value (The President’s Plan). And indexing the minimum wage would ensure that working families keep up with inflation.
Raising the minimum wage has been one of the biggest debates during the 21st century. One side of the spectrum argues that raising it will make it so they have a living wage, while the other argues that raising it will hurt the economy. Whichever the case is, people are clearly divided on this issue. Before Oregon passed the 15 dollar minimum wage law, people wrote arguments to try to either prevent or pass this law. The article, “How a $15 minimum wage would affect a real business: Guest opinion” by Lee Spector argues that raising the minimum wage would hurt small businesses like the one he earns.
The topic of minimum wage is one that can lead to heated debates from both sides of the aisle over how much a person should be getting in payment versus how much work they do, or how hard they work to earn the payment. Countless people today are not getting paid the amount they should be based off of the work that they are putting in to their job. There are arguments leaning towards the raising of minimum wage, and there are arguments leaning against the raising of the minimum wage, however one of the arguments I find persuasive. There are some arguments that lean towards the raising of the minimum wage. The first argument presented involves job creation in the United States.
First, one main reason that the minimum wage should be raised is because the economy will prosper. “Economic Policy Institute stated that a minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three-year phase-in period” (ProCon). This quote shows that the economy will flourish from the increase of the minimum wage and that unemployment will decrease. Another quote that shows how raising the minimum wage will affect employment is “To the extent that through these contour effects it affords as much as 70 percent of the workforce greater purchasing power, it effectively increases aggregate demand for goods and services, which should ultimately lead to the creation of more jobs” (Challenger 19). Bryan Covert supports raising the minimum wage by
According to William Dunkelberg, a writer for Forbes magazine, by raising minimum wage there could become less jobs than before. Though the people who have jobs would be making more money, smaller companies wouldn’t be able to pay for their employee’s, and would have to let people go. “Small businesses stay in business
The most important reason is that it would make it harder for people to create businesses if we raise the minimum wage. For example , say that you or a friend were looking for a job, what if neither of you can find a job because all of the once-were available jobs
Small Businesses could go out of business if we raised the minimum wage to a higher price. This is a widely debated subject of money, income, and the effect raising the minimum wage can have on businesses and the economy. Currently, the federal minimum wage is seven dollars and twenty-five cents and have been established that way since 2009. It has been said minimum wage should be increased to accommodate living expenses and travel time to places of work. The problem with raising minimum wage , that many people do not realize, is how it affects big and small businesses.
When you raise minimum wage you raise the price in everything else for instance if minimum wage was raised ten percent that also raises restaurant prices 0.7 cents that may not sound like a lot but it starts adding up sooner or later and who knows then it could raises prices a whole dollar. Some people think that because the cities they live in are so expensive that minimum wage should be raised but if you live in an expensive city and are also living off minimum wage and can not afford it then you should not be living there. Also women think that they can not have a good lifestyle for their children with what minimum wage is paying. If you are living off minimum wage and trying to raise children then maybe you should find a different job where you can afford a life for your kids. Minimum wage should be raised because the economy is at a point where if minimum wage is raised there would not be a drastic change.
The New York Times states, “Employers do not automatically cope with a higher minimum wage by laying off workers or not hiring new ones. Instead they pay up out of savings from reduced labor turnover, by slower wage increases higher up the scale, modest price increases or other adjustments” (4). It would not make sense for businesses to raise prices for consumers because the possibility of losing sales is very real. That argument, that raising the minimum wage would hurt consumers, just furthers the negative sentiment people have towards this topic. Numerous studies have shown that employment increases from the state and federal level had an overall positive effect on employment (Whitaker et al. 631).
Just simply raising the minimum wage is like what Germany did after World War I. To pay off their debt they just printed off a bunch of money, but what they did not realize is that the value of their money dropped. Just raising the minimum wage is not going to magically help the United States economy. Raising the minimum wage also decreases employees work ethic and the use of incentives ("Seattle Wins 'Fight for $15,' but Low-Skill Workers Lose." A.7). If the minimum wage is raised then many companies will no longer be able to use a raise to promote their work ethic because they will no longer be able to afford the raise.
The federal minimum wage should be increased because raising it would increase the economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and also improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum wage. Increases in job growth and economic activity will happen when the minimum wage is elevated. If the minimum wage was increased it will “inject 22.1 billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three year period”. (“Raising the Federal minimum Wage to $10.10 Would Lift Wages for Millions and Provide a Modest Economic Boost") Thousands of new jobs will be created and it will put billions of dollars into the economy.
Because taking into account negative employment effects and increases in consumer prices induced by the minimum wage would wipe out any positive direct effects on household affected by the minimum wage. The minimum wage becomes even less effective in reducing income inequality when negative employment effects are taken into account. I will address the negative effects in sociological aspects by the
The minimum wage in Virginia should be increased to reflect the cost of living within the State. The number of working poor are increasing. There are minimum wage jobs available throughout the state, however earned wages are not sufficient to allow for a manageable quality of life. The current minimum wage in Virginia is $7.25 per hour, in keeping with the Federal Minimum Wage rate of the same amount.
There are a lot of potential benefits for an increase in minimum wage and on the surface it’s hard to see why you wouldn’t want to increase the wage. One of the clearest to see is that an increase to the minimum wage will also increase the spending for each household during the following years. So it works to help stimulate the economy in whatever area you increase the minimum wage. Along those same lines increasing the minimum wage will lead to a decrease in poverty as well. With the decrease in poverty you will also see a decrease in government spending on welfare items because the individuals receiving the higher wage in theory will be able to pay for these services/welfare items without assistance.
In the past three years, many politicians and labor unions have been pushing for an increase in minimum wage. Minimum wage is the lowest set wage by a law of a government body. An increase in minimum will benefit some people, and hurt others. An increase in minimum wage will cause benefit in the short run but will be very damaging to the economy in the long run. There should not be an increase in minimum wage because it is unhealthy to the economy in the long run and it will be the major cause of job loss, increase in inflation, competition, and the price level of goods and services.