Mandatory Minimum Wages Essay

The wage given to an employee is a motivational factor for one’s decision to work for an organization. Wages given to employees varies across different departments of an organization. Organizations have several criteria for determining who deserves what, and how much to pay the employee aside the minimum wage set by the governments. Wage reflects job efforts measured by hours of work and educational qualification among other variables. Firms pay the educated, and the more skilled workers higher wages than the less educated and unskilled workers. Also, employees with much experience receive higher earnings than those with less experience

Whether or not lower wages haves any impact on crime has been a contention among various researchers and experts in the field. Researchers have sought to explain how wages contribute to an individual committing property crime. Chan (2012) argued that lower wages could compel the worker to look for other sources of income mainly through involvement in illegal activities as revealed in the crime model by Becker (1968).

One may be tempted to ask, if the minimum wages set by the Federal and state governments has sufficiently addressed the needs and wants of society, given the

It is my desire to investigate if the disparities in hourly wages could explain the likelihood of a person committing a property crime (stealing an item).

RESEARCH QUESTION

The general question for this research is to determine whether hourly wage influences the probability of committing property crime.

SPECIFIC QUESTIONS

1. Is hourly wage a reason to steal an item worth at least $50?

2. If yes, then does taking an hourly wage less than $11 a reason to steal an item worth at least