Today about sixty million people are relying on minimum wage or low income jobs to support themselves and or their families. An increase in the minimum wage can help many people live a more efficient life. It is believed that in order to live in a one bedroom rental in New York State at minimum wage you would have to work about ninety eight hours a week. After factoring in sleeping, someone working a minimum wage job trying to support themselves could have only fourteen hours a week of free time. With that said why is not the minimum wage increase? Minimum wage has not been increased any more than it is because many people are concerned as to what an increase in minimum wage will do to our economy. If the minimum wage was set at a higher dollar amount it could increase wages for millions. One concern with increasing the minimum wage is that people believe that if the minimum wage is increased others will lose their job in order for employers to pay the new minimum wage. People believe their jobs will soon be replaced with robots. This however may not be true. Minimum wage goes up all the time and workers are not getting laid off because of this increase, but …show more content…
If I was in the situation that many people are in today where I could not pay bills I would be devastated. I would need to almost work around the clock just to try and support myself without any assistance from the government. Even then I still would not be able to fill a grocery basket with essentials at the end of the week. I hope people can start to see the positive effects of the minimum wage increase and not just the negatives. Yes prices may increase but they will not increase enough to have a negative effect on our economy. Also, jobs will not be replaced with robots because employers have to pay a few more dollars and hour for a worker. An increase in the minimum wage rate can and will help our economy
Raising the minimum wage will allow society to keep up with inflation, extract people out of poverty, and stimulate the economy. Even though there are some negatives to increasing the wage, many of the opposing arguments have been found to be false or even have had the opposite effect. Increasing the wage will be beneficial to the workers as well as the businesses, making the wage increase a positive change in the United States economy.
Out of fifty states, twenty-nine have raised the federal minimum wage above $7.25. As of January first, 2016, only two states have raised their wage to ten dollars, those two states are California and Massachusetts. Moving to California or Massachusetts to get paid higher seems like a great idea does it not? What most people do not understand that with a higher wage comes higher prices along with that increase of money. You may be getting paid ten or fifteen dollars an hour to serve people burgers, but you go to the grocery store and spend your entire paycheck on food for your family.
The minimum wage is especially difficult on small businesses, and there is no evidence that it reduces poverty. (Federal Minimum Wage 1) Finally, if we raise minimum raise it will make the economy better because people will have more money to spend. When people have more money they will buy more products for business. When people buy more things other companies will make more money and that helps them.
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.
Raising the minimum wage will ruin our economy. Look at the big picture, businesses and companies will struggle or close, poverty will increase, and the price of consumer goods will rise. There are a few things that let economists know how the economy is doing at the moment. They’re called economic indicators, and 2 of them are consumer confidence and unemployment rate. The more people that are unemployed, the less money being used to buy things which hurts the economy.
Although there are those out there that would argue that the minimum wage increase would cause more damage to our economy; I believe
At first glance, raising the current minimum wage seems like an outstanding idea and one may think, “Hey, it’s not hurting anyone.” In reality these good intentions will result in many unintended consequences such as causing businesses to hire fewer workers, it has no effect on reducing poverty and will decrease employment. A common misconception referring to minimum wage in the United States is that the current minimum wage is not enough to make a living and support a family. The majority of minimum wage workers are between the ages of 16 and 24 years old.
This would make it where people wouldn 't have to live paycheck to paycheck. Raising the wage slightly would also make it so the price of goods wouldn 't have to be raised. The 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. This raise increase would be easy to implement and would help the economy. By implementing this new minimum wage many problems in America can be solved.
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.
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.
When a higher minimum wage is enacted the effects will be different for companies, industries and the labor market in general and we will also have different effects on the employment market. The main effect and impact will be for low paid jobs particularly in industries like food, restaurants and retail. This topic is very controversial and has supporters and deniers on both sides of the political and the economical world. I support the increase in minimum wage and I believe it should be linked to the inflation and the living wage.
It could also lead to an increase in automation, depending on the specific job. Therefore, the cost of living would increase, and the value of the new minimum wage would decrease. Finally, it could have little or no effect on small businesses, if an adequate profit margin already exists and the owner is willing (or able) to absorb the additional
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.
The article Raising the Minimum Wage is Common Sense: Column is written in USA TODAY by Jack Quinn, Mike Castle, Steve LaTourette and Connie Morrell supports the idea to raise the minimum wage. The main reason is that the current minimum wage is inconsistent, because as the years go by, our basic necessities are increasing in price, our labor requirement is intensely demanding, the number of people supported by government programs is high, and our wages stay the same. By not keeping up with inflation, we not only hurt our economy and along the process, we are allowing a large number of our population to live the below poverty line.
The people who make minimum wage very clearly express their theory that higher pay will benefit them and show many valid points on why it should be increased. Minimum wage workers work hard and "[s]ince the 1970s, productivity has risen dramatically... [y]et middle- and low-wage workers ' incomes have barely changed" (Dorn). These circumstances make it hard for low wage workers to stay above the poverty line when the average low wage worker makes only $15,000 annually (Dorn). Before inflation, the minimum wage was surprisingly much higher, "in 1968, the minimum wage was close to $10 per hour in today 's dollars" (Dorn).