A Minimum Wage Increase Will Stimulate the Economy

1329 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Why you shouldn't raise minimum wage essay

President Franklin Roosevelt endorsed the federal minimum wage law in 1938 while the Great Depression was at its utmost insolvent position. Because at this point in time the economy was at its lowest, the sole purpose for its enactment was to keep the majority of Americans out of poverty and increase consumer demand. Following the 1960’s, the minimum wage has had a very gradual increase to the point where it is now at a standby. At this moment with a recession occurring, minimum wages have not brought any benefits to those working for such a limited pay. In fact, it has affected an amount of factors rather than actually keeping the overall population out of impoverishment. Although opponents claim a rise in minimum wages will affect employment, an increase is the key to stimulate the economy and will further reduce those stepping in the poverty line, known as the “working poor.” All in all, raising earnings will be advantageous as a whole. Raising the pay for minimum wage workers will be the proper way to create effective results, yet there exists those who oppose an increase. Neal Asbury, an American entrepreneur, writes “Raising the Minimum Wage Brings Minimum Benefits” to express how a hike in wages will increase unemployment levels. The author introduces a survey done in 1992 regarding economists’ beliefs towards an increase in minimum wage, where 72 percent claim it would hurt unemployment levels (Asbury). According to this claim, more than half of economists argue that if a rise in minimum wage is to occur, unemployment will soar among the country. Businesses will be prone to lay off employees or hire fewer workers because of higher costs and will lead low-skilled workers to be jobless. An increase in pay will lea... ... middle of paper ... ...sures of relying on public assistance; therefore, allowing them to purchase any goods they could not before. The success of raising wages in studies sets the profound reasoning why it is ideal for the country. Works Cited Asbury, Neal. “Raising the Minimum Wage Brings Minimum Benefits.” Money News. Newsmax Media, Inc., 14 Mar. 2013. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. Martin, Emily, and Arjun Sethi. “Equal Pay Day: Raising the Minimum Wage Will Help Women---And the Economy.” Christian Science Monitor. The Christian Science Monitor, 9 Apr. 2013. n.pag. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Nader, Ralph. “America’s Miserly Minimum Wage Needs an Upgrade.” The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company, 15 Apr. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. Wicks-Lim, Jeannette. “The Working Poor.” New Labor Forum (Murphy Institute). 21.3 (2012): 17-25. Academic Search Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • The Economic Impact of Raising the Minimum Wage

    1480 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 impassioned speech calling on Congress to help the one-third of Americans who were “ill-housed, ill-clad, and ill-nourished” heralded in the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 and with it a national minimum wage. Echoes of that speech are still heard today. Senator Edward Kennedy (1989: S14707), in his criticism of the most recent increases in the minimum wage, declared:

    Read More

  • Zeynep Ton's A Minimum Wage

    909 Words  | 2 Pages

    Ton, Z. (2014). A minimum wage hike could help employers, too. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved February 2, 2014 from http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/01/a-minimum-wage-hike-would-help-employers-too/

    Read More

  • Raising Minimum Wage Essay

    982 Words  | 2 Pages

    Minimum wage is a topic that has been popping up since the 1980s. From whether we should lower it, or even raise it, but now in the 2000s minimum wage has been the center of attention more than ever. There are two sides to this topic of minimum wage; whether it creates more jobs or does not create jobs. Those who argue that raising minimum wage will create more jobs will have a rebuttal which is that it does not only cause the loss of jobs but that it would make things much worse and vice versa for those arguing raising minimum wage will cause loss of jobs. There will be two authors representing opposite views, Nicholas Johnson supporting minimum wage will not cost jobs with his article “ Evidence Shows Raising Minimum Wage Hasn’t Cost Jobs”

    Read More

  • Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996

    2980 Words  | 6 Pages

    Zuberi, Dan. Differences that Matter: Social Policy and the Working Poor in the United. New York: Cornell University Press, 2006.

    Read More

  • Persuasive Essay On Raising Minimum Wage

    1668 Words  | 4 Pages

    Many people against raising the minimum wage create arguments such as, “it will cause inflation”, or, “ it will result in job loss.” Not only are these arguments terribly untrue, they also cause a sense of panic towards the majority working-class. Since 1938, the federal minimum wage has been increased 22 times. For more than 75 years, real GDP per capita has consistently increased, even when the wage has been

    Read More

  • The Working Poor in America

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Shipler, David K. “The Working Poor: Invisible In America”. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must Be Raised

    1033 Words  | 3 Pages

    "When we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed."

    Read More

  • The Benefits Of Raising The Minimum Wage

    698 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gitterman, Daniel P. “Remaking A Bargain: The Political Logic Of The Minimum Wage In The United States.” Poverty And Public Policy 5.1 (2013): 3-36. EconLit. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.

    Read More

  • The Minimum Wage Must be Raised

    961 Words  | 2 Pages

    "Raising the minimum wage will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too - raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities." -- President Obama

    Read More

  • A Minimal Earner on Minimum Wage

    648 Words  | 2 Pages

    Unemployment is an issue that national leaders try to deal with every day. Many job-creating strategies have been put forth over the years, and, in recent times, a popular strategy is to raise the Federal minimum wage. However, increasing the minimum wage could have an unforeseen effect on America’s job market that if unchecked could spiral out of control.

    Read More

  • Minimum Wage: Impact on American Poverty

    1282 Words  | 3 Pages

    Currently, in the United States, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25 for the past six years; however, in 1938 when it first became a law, it was only $0.25. In the United States the federal minimum wage has been raised 22 times since 1938 by a significant amount due to changes in the economy. Minimum wage was created to help America in poverty and consumer power purchasing, but studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not reduce poverty. By increasing the minimum wage, it “will lift some families out of poverty, while other low-skilled workers may lose their jobs, which reduces their income and drops their families into poverty” (Wilson 4). When increasing minimum wage low-skilled, workers living in poor families,

    Read More

  • Should Minimum Wage Be Increased

    1403 Words  | 3 Pages

    Minimum wage has been around for ages. Minimum wage employment was a temporary condition for people earning little payment until they moved on to a better paying job. These jobs helped build résumés, experiences, and skills for a better career. It has become the easiest way for people to receive easy pay. As years went on that idea began to demolish into a job that many families can get to survive and pay for their expenses. There have been many arguments going on, "Should minimum wage be raised or should it be lowered or eliminated altogether?" This action has its pros and cons. It can benefit many families as living cost has gone up, price for education is rising, and college students are in huge debts. It may increase poverty, but those

    Read More

  • The Working Poor: Invisible in America by David K. Shipler

    741 Words  | 2 Pages

    Shipler, David K. The Working Poor: Invisible in America (Vintage). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition, 2008.

    Read More

  • We Should NOT Raise the Minimum Wage

    1177 Words  | 3 Pages

    Wittner, Lawrence. "The Minimum Wage Should Be Raised." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 10 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Mar. 2014.

    Read More

  • Price Control

    676 Words  | 2 Pages

    What would happen to your business if the minimum wage were drastically increased? Could you afford it? What impact would it have on those making more than minimum wage? The questions have been debated for sometime, but recently the debate has intensified because President Obama made a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $9 from its current status of $7.25. Bustamante’s article “$9 minimum wage sounds good but it would be bad public policy” focuses on the negative affects implementing a policy to raise the price floor on minimum wage would have on the United States. There are three key principles of economics that Bustamante touches on in the article, the first is people respond to incentives, the second is people face trade-offs, and finally a country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and services (Mankiw, 2012). After summarizing the article the goal is to identify the impact this policy will have on supply and demand, discuss the changes, and draw the supply and demand graph to detail the change.

    Read More

More about A Minimum Wage Increase Will Stimulate the Economy

Open Document