Is it ethical to raise the minimum wage when it doesn’t necessarily affect the very poor, the people it’s aimed at helping? The minimum wage is the lowest hourly wage an employer is permitted by law to pay an employee for his work. The current federal minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour. Across the country, there is an overwhelming push in favor of raising wages for our poorest workers. In January 2016 the minimum wage in California was raised to $10 an hour. Cities are also allowed to pass minimum wage rates and several cities have recently adopted regulations that establish a higher minimum wage rates. For example, Los Angeles signed into law a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2020 (Wattles). According to a Pew Research
Should government raise minimum wage? Minimum wage is set at $7.25 an hour, and if minimum wage was raised to $15 an hour such as in California, California 's law will affect both a much larger number of people, and a much more diverse population of workers than any other measure to date. A few reasons why raising minimum wage is a bad idea is because current employees who get paid the minimum wage would be obligated to do more work. To keep labor costs low, these employees would have to take on additional duties and responsibilities to make up the difference in hours available. Since more people would be willing to work for more pay, the current workers would be likely replaced by higher quality workers or automated systems.
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
The Minimum wage was inserted into law to counteract working forty plus hours a week and child labor. In today’s times the only thing minimum wage is doing is hurting young workers to get a job and keeping smaller business from growing. With the minimum wage in place it doesn’t guarantee a living, it guarantees
In a minimum wage increase to $10.10 like Obama wanted that would raise the national ratio to 50 percent. In San Francisco they raised minimum wage up to $10.74 and that has made the 40 percent city median wage. In February of 2013 Obama raised the minimum wage and one month into doing that the economy raised and got better for workers and
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.
Introduction More numbers of state are joining to take action to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour in a few years even though there is a high disputing controversial all over the nation. The federal has set the minimum wage level to $7.25 on Jan. 1, 2015. In less than a year the index number of the minimum wage is going up automatically with cost of living. And eventually it will be likely to increase year by year with automatic and expectation index.
If America raises the minimum wage to $9.00, it will help people in need or in poverty, but it also won’t hurt people in the workforce. If you increase the minimum wage to $15.00 it will make unemployment rates go high up. Which in the process, makes the homelessness rates go up in the country and in your community. If you keep the minimum wage at $7.25 people will stay in poverty and homeless or on the verge of homelessness.
Is it a dream to make more of a minimum hourly wage? Or is it considered a nightmare? California legislators and Governor Jerry Brown have decided to increase the minimum wage by fifteen dollars by the year of 2022. With an increase in the minimum wage, residents of California are worried that they would lose more than they will actually receive. The people of California are actually making good points as to why the minimum wage of fifteen dollars should not be instated.
Should Federal Minimum Wage be $15 an hour? The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 states that workers will be given a livable wage. By definition, a living wage is the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs. In the words of congress, it is “the minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency, and general well-being.”
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.
Introduction Minimum wage is the lowest hourly rate an employer can pay an employee for hours worked. The topic of raising the minimum wage is a sensitive issue for many people. The livelihood of many relevant stakeholders will be directly effected by policies created in regards to raising minimum wage, both positively and negatively. This paper will examine the history and current state of minimum wage. It will identify the issues connected to raising minimum wage, analyze the arguments for and against, and make recommendations based on the analysis.
I like how you used minimum wage as one of the tensions between economics and ethics. This is a popular topic in the news now and seems to come up every couple of years. There are many pros of raising the minimum wage such as higher worker morale, improved living standards and increase consumer spending. At the same time there are disadvantages as companies could raise their prices, jobs could be cut, and reduce desire for career advancement. If I own a coffee shop and increase the wages of all employees to $15 an hour, but have to layoff 3 employees in the process am I doing an ethical or unethical thing?
Minimum Wage is the lowest wage an employer is allowed to pay its employee by law. It has been a fundamental part of our economic growth and has been first instated by congress in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standard Act. With about 14.8% of Americas in poverty, there has been much debate on whether it should be raised or not (Census). However with economic change and inflation, minimum wage has been raised in the past. Though raising it many times in the past, many economists still think it’s not enough to live on.
Concerns about the minimum wage increasing and decreasing has been a controversial issue for many years. Although having an increased minimum wage may be beneficial to employee’s and improve living standards, the economy could face many risks. According to an article posted in The New York Times, “California and New York last year approved gradual increases to $15 per hour. (Schreiber 2017). Recent studies have shown that popular cities and states are beginning to raise their minimum wages.
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.