Minimum Wage In this paper I wish to examine two different points of view on rising or not the minimum wage. Minimum wage, the lowest daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. It was set for the first time in 1939 and varied with time. The most currently change has been made in July 2009 and people are willing changes to be done. This issue is significantly important for different aspects such as impact living standards and labor market, effect on business and country's economy in general. The proponents of raise of minimum wage support their opinion by saying that the rise will cause improve in living standards, create more opportunities for jobs, and boosts workers' morale. As Ed Markey, member of the United
In todays society minimum wgae is a hot topic that it heavily debated. The minimum wage is the lowest sum of money that companies must by law pay their employees for work-related services. Depending on the state or country you are in, the minimum wage is different, and it typically changes over time. Background
The talk of the town has been the fast food strike for minimum wage to raise to $15 dollars an hour. Many are against this because they do not feel like fast food restaurants deserve to be paid $15 dollars an hour to flip a burger and deep fry French fries. Others, believe that they do deserve that much because they cannot live a comfortable life on the minimum wage now. The controversy is whether a fast food job is suppose to be a short term job or a long term career? There are many other professions that went through years of schooling and testing and only make a little over $15 an hour.
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).
Americans can all agree that America is struggling to keep unemployment rates low. If the government raised the minimum wage to $10.10, a projected 85,000 jobs will be created in the next three years. Along with the increase of minimum wage, everyone will be making more money, otherwise known as wage inflation. If the minimum wage goes up three dollars, people who make more than minimum wage will get more money to compensate for employees that make minimum wage. The modern economy is far too ahead of the measly $7.25 minimum wage workers make.
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.
From the first glance, the rise of the federal minimum wage is beneficial to everyone. It will improve living standards and the country’s overall economy, create more job opportunities, and reduce the poverty rate. However, after analyzing some economic theories and reading presumption made by qualified economists the idea of increasing the federal minimum wage will not look as good as before. Oppositely to benefits the raise may adversely affect standard of living, cause layoffs and fewer hirings, or has negative effect on poverty rate. Both points of view show the significant impact that the raise of the federal minimum wage may cause and both of them are partly correct.
The federal minimum wage has long been a topic of controversy in U.S. domestic policy. In fact it’s been in contention since its inception. The U.S. followed the models lead by Australia and New Zealand, which established the world’s first minimum wage policies in the 1890s. The Progressive faction here at home introduced the idea of a U.S. minimum wage; their argument was that a wage should be sufficient enough to support a common worker's necessities. This resonates just as arguments used today, and proponents even go further in prospects of increasing the Federal minimum wage.
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.
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 conclusion, a federal minimum wage increase will significantly improve the standard of living of low-wage workers. To meet their basic needs, workers must be given a living wage. It is not only morally correct to do so, but also beneficiary to both ends. The increase in wages allows for a more supportable income, but it also stimulates the economy.
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.
Conservative economists view the minimum wage argument as a series of points on a chart. If labour costs go by x, profits will decrease by y. The reason this point fails is that workers are not robots who react the same to inputs and outputs. They are humans with feelings and emotions are reacting to changes in their environment differently. That is the heart of the liberal perspective on increasing the minimum wage and paying employees more will not just help workers but business owners and the population at large.
Conclusion and Recommendations: In conclusion, high minimum wage is starting to become a growing concern as time goes on. Many stakeholders are affected by high minimum wage, which includes, employees/future employees, managers, foreign/local organizations, and also the Canadian government. Just like how managers have to somehow find a way to achieve a goal while minimum wage continues to rise, the government also have to find a way to control minimum wage in a way that all stakeholders involved will be satisfied about it. This becomes very difficult as employees ask for a higher minimum wage, and foreign/local managers wish for a lower minimum wage to cut back on expenses.
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.
1. Introduction In the modest term, a minimum wage is a lawfully authorized minor bound for wages, but the term “lawfully authorised” is unclear, leading too many different kinds of minimum wages institutions (Cunningham et al, 2007:19). It further states that in the most straight forward cases, such as Brazil and Bolivia, the federal government identifies a wage level and all employers in the country must pay at that level or above it (2007:19). Economist have tended to oppose minimum wage on the grounds that they reduce employment , hurting many of those they are supposed to help (the economist:24/11/2012).