15 Minimum Wage: Article Analysis

The solution to the minimum-wage problem that haunts American workers in the 21st century is to strive for lower everyday expenses rather than for a higher minimum wage. The renowned author Barbara Ehrenreich, in her informational novel Nickel and Dimed, tells the story of how she performed a social experiment by working several minimum wage jobs, while living a lifestyle of a low-wage worker. In her novel, Ehrenreich concludes that minimum wage workers “in good health” can “barely support [themselves]” (199). Even though Ehrenreich earned “$1039 in one month,” at the end of the month she only had “$22 left over” as she had to spend “$517” on food and gas, and “$500” to pay her rent (197). As evident, Ehrenreich’s wage is not the cause of her

Argument against Minimum Wage Claim:  Raising the minimum wage could lead to bigger problems. Support:  The US would lose 500,000 jobs (Congressional Budget Office report, Economist and public policy experts )  Increased consumer prices, driven by companies offsetting increased labor cost (Econo-mist and public policy experts).  A possibility higher minimum wage would attract more experience workers that would stay in a low paying wage longer, which makes young people and other people with lim-ited work experience not land entry-level jobs (Economist and public policy experts).

A minimum wage increase from “$7.25 to $10.10 would result in a loss of 500,000 jobs”. ("The Effects of Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income”) This claim is better because it shows how raising the minimum wage will decrease job growth instead of increasing it. But, the minimum wage should be increased because increasing will also increase economic activity and spur job growth, decrease poverty, and improvements in productivity and economic growth have outpaced increases in the minimum

Why we Should Raise the Minimum Wage In Kevin A. Hassett's essay which appeared in American Enterprise Institutes online issue March 10, 2013 , '' Why We Shouldn't Raise the Minimum Wage'', he responds to announcement proclaimed by President Obama, in his 2009 State of the Union address, regarding the minimum wage. '' In the wealthiest nation on Earth... no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty.'' President Obama 2009 . Hassett believes that the President's resolution to raise the minimum wage would prove to be counter effective. He does not believe that it will solve the , present and worrying issue of poverty in the country.

Seven dollars and twenty-five cents an hour, or fourteen thousand five hundred per year, is the lowest amount the government deems appropriate to pay workers. This amount is sufficient for a single person with no extra expenses, but that is often not the reality of minimum wage workers. While some believe that raising the minimum wage would do more harm than good, increasing the minimum wage to a living wage would benefit society by reducing poverty, increasing productivity, spurring economic growth, and improving peoples’ quality of life. Some people say that paying workers a living wage would benefit not only the workers but the whole of society.

(Card and Kreuger 1995, p. 593) This finding shows that the minimum wages fail to reduce poverty because many poor Americans do not work. Also, this increase would not be well targeted at low income households, and would only influence negligible effects on the income inequality. All these evidence suggest that the minimum wage increases do not reduce

Ever since the Great Depression, the minimum wage has been in effect — in order to reduce poverty and solidify that employees are paid a reasonable sum. Although the minimum wage can be beneficial and advantageous for individuals and to our economy as a whole, it can also be detrimental to our nation’s finances. The federal government should not allow this to pass, but rather they should increase the citizens’ knowledge of the pernicious consequences and complications that will arise with a higher minimum wage, especially one as high as $15 per hour. Some of the resulting conflicts that will occur if this possible raise in the federal minimum wage takes effect are: job loss, business failure, higher consumer prices, and a lower demand for uneducated employees. Although it may appear as if increasing the federal minimum wage will help to lift families out of poverty, in

One of the greatest effects of a $15 an hour minimum wage would be its impact on

Since the Great Depression, there has been a minimum wage in America, but this minimum wage has changed 22 times since the Great Deprnbession. Many people say minimum wage should stay at $7.25 like it has been since 2009. Meanwhile, other people believe that minimum wage should be $15.00 so they can have more money to live comfortably. People think that a higher minimum wage will help, but it will hurt more people than it will help. If America makes the minimum wage $9.00, people will no longer be in poverty and it will make the economy balance out.

Argument Response to James Suroviecki’s “The Pay is Too Damn Low” In the New Yorker magazine on August 12, 2013, James Surovwiecki’s article “The Pay is Too Damn Low” was published. He lays out a good argument on the benefits of raising the minimum wage, but fails to address the complicated connection between low-cost goods and services that Americans have come to demand and the low minimum wage. If companies such as Wal-Mart, and McDonalds were to have to pay $15 an hour for their lowest paid employee’s, it stands to reason the added costs would be passed on to consumers. Would Americans revolt at the idea of paying nearly double for a “happy meal”, or a coffee maker?

Small businesses need employees in order to run effectively and produce a fair amount of profit. A hypothetical $4 spike in the floor price of minimum wage will be drastic. If they are unable to afford the kind of automation which would allow them to lay off employees, then small businesses such as, restaurants; would be forced to reduce expenses in other places for instance by raising menu prices, sourcing poorer ingredients and/or reducing operating hours, (“Why Are So Many Seattle Restaurants Closing Lately?” ) in order to compensate for the profit loss obtained by the increased minimum wage.

Minimum wage and poverty With everything going on with the Walmart workers picketing for fifteen dollars an hour wages, the topic is widely discussed with many people taking many different sides. The essay “Raising the Minimum wage will reduce poverty” By Sharon Parrott and Jason Furman, They go into how they think the minimum wage should be raised in order to decrease poverty in america, Of course there are reasons to raise it and reasons to not raise it. Yet with the multitude of reasons for and against it, it’s hard to make a decision that makes everybody content, Some of the reasons not to raise it include, Raising it can make prices for everyday items go up, Why go and spend thousands of dollars on college when you could get a decent job right out of high school, and Why let workers who work at unskilled jobs make as much if not more than the military. Some reasons for minimum wage raising is, The fact that the cost of living is higher means people can’t survive with minimum wage without federal care, And just helping people get back on their feet when they couldn’t find a job. The reasons Minimum wage shouldn’t be raised outweigh the reasons it should.

In popular narratives, it seems as though the fight for fifteen has scared Americans into thinking that raising the minimum wage would create job loss. The thing is that it just hasn’t happened. In major cities such Seattle, Los Angeles, and San Francisco this is proven not to be the case. In Seattle specifically, the Income Inequality Advisory Committee has been gathering data about increases of the minimum wage all across the country. It has been concluded that there is no evidence of job loss, but an increase in employment levels in some areas.

Understanding that both articles had great reasoning I believe that a raise in the minimum wage can have a negative impact in our economy and that it should be something that shouldn’t be completely abolished but carefully monitored. Like stated in Minimum Wage Laws Are Immoral and Harmful, not all employees will give their full effort in the workplace because they won’t need to worry about getting a raise. The act of raising minimum wage doesn’t only affect the employers but as well as the consumers, by causing a rise in the company’s merchandise. I understand that some jobs don’t pay their employees enough, but what are the qualifications that the employees have, do they have enough experience, or a degree and have they simply demonstrated their ability’s. Keep in mind that many people just ask but don’t give to

America today is faced with its fair share of problems. There are low employment rates, debt, and inflation everywhere, riddling the economy with issues. There is absolutely no reason that any American citizen should want to pile upon the problem. Yet, some believe that it could be done by raising the federal minimum wage to fifteen dollars an hour. Fortunately, history, economics, and common sense prove the minimum wage raise proposition wrong.