Increased Minimum Wage Essay

Samuelson and Nordhaus, authors of the book, Economics, once said, “The minimum wage probably raises the income of some low-wage workers at the expense of others who cannot find work.” While a raise in the minimum wage may come with good intentions, the effect could be detrimental to society. A raise in minimum wage is problematic because it would cause a loss of jobs, higher prices for lower quality goods, and less business. Overall, these effects would lead to the poor being even poorer. The media is often times having news on protests for a higher minimum wage. People want it to be raised for the national rate at $7.25 to $10.10. Some people do not think $10.10 is enough. They are demanding minimum wage to be set at $15.00. This is over double what it is now (Reisman 2). That is quite a substantial raise. Most businesses would not be able to handle such a raise. The money has to come from somewhere.
One place the money could come from is jobs. A substantial raise in minimum wage would result in a major loss of jobs. It would be nearly impossible for any business to keep all of their employees and make a profit. “There is no room on the balance sheets of individual stores to suddenly raise wages” (Leavitt 1). There is a huge difference between the McDonald’s franchise and an independently owned McDonald’s restaurant. The hit of a raise in minimum wage would not go to the franchise, but it would go to each individual restaurant. The

When the price of employees increases to a business, they raise their prices to adjust for the extra costs. Not only would prices of goods increase, but the quality of these goods would also decrease (Armstrong 2). Businesses would not spend as much money on their products as once before in order to cut costs, but they would also raise their prices. This would save the business a great deal of money. The money that it saves them would go to their employees that remain