While there has been a big push by the public to implement a $15 minimum wage, with this minimum wage comes consequences the largest of them being unemployment–especially for young less experienced laborers (Sowell, 2015). According to a 2016 article written by the Learn Liberty team:
[Don Boudreaux] points out that minimum wage hikes may sound good in on their face, but in reality they result in job loss because they increase the cost of labor, making low-skilled employees more expensive for employers to hire…Wage hikes disproportionately hurt marginalized groups with the least experience. Inner-city students, immigrants, and other workers on the lower rungs of the economic ladder are deemed most expendable when employers are forced to reduce job opportunities. (para. 2-3)
Thomas Sowell (2015) echoes this when saying,
Unfortunately, the real minimum wage is always zero, regardless of the laws, and that is the wage that many workers receive in the wake of the creation or escalation of a government-mandated minimum wage, because they either lose their jobs or fail to find jobs when they enter the labor force. (pp. 220-221)
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These sentiments further show how economics is not simply a matter of money. While the general public has a mindset of “more money, higher level of living.” This is untrue, however, because it assumes those people will keep their jobs. Sowell (2015) cites that in countries where there is no minimum wage law, the unemployment rates tend to be relatively low. Minimum wage is not only a matter of money but also a matter of cost, and this high cost may and does lead to more unemployment, an example of the unintended consequences relating to minimum wage and unemployment (Sowell,
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
Understanding the basic concept of minimum wage is important for every single individual. We all live in this world together, and it is obvious that there is an order. In order to continue our lives and afford our basic needs, we all need to work and gain wealth. As the old adage says ‘‘There ain’t such a thing as a free lunch. ’’
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,
In recent years the minimum wage has been a heated topic. People want to hike it up to 15 dollars an hour which they call a living wage, while others just want to keep it the same. There are also others that suggest to bring the minimum wage to around $10.78 an hour, which should be around the minimum wage now if we account for inflation from the 1960’s. I agree with that to a certain point. We as a nation need to bring up the minimum wage only up to ten dollars so that less people are living in poverty, and not any higher so that states with smaller economies don 't crash and burn.
The minimum wage today has a lot of issues; some people say it is not enough to live comfortably. Many agree that there needs to be an increase in minimum wages and by doing that it can help with our issues of poverty. Statistics show that a worker who is full time and earning minimum wage makes only $15,080 a year, which is under the federal poverty line for a family of two. (Gitis, 2013) The problem with that is $15,080 is not a sufficient amount that a person can live and grow on. “A family of two can consist of a mother and son or daughter, father and son or ...
Let’s just say you have t wo children, you are a single parent and are reliable for everything in the household but only making minimum wage. Do you think you would be able to handle the pressure put on you and provide? Well, there are many single parents out there with children and a lot of those families are living in poverty because of the lack of money reachable to them. With wages being as low as they are it makes it harder on those parents because money just do not grow on trees. The minimum wage should be raised due to the many people in poverty already and not all people get paid what they deserve.
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
Since the cost of living has gone up drastically, raising the minimum wage is the right thing to do to boost the economy, lift workers morale and productivity, and improve the self sufficiency of potentially millions of American workers. Raising the minimum wage is a vital step in decreasing poverty and giving every family the opportunity to survive and succeed. Even businesses agree raising the minimum wage would give many customers more money to spend in turn increasing sales and higher profits for the companies. Therefore, raising the minimum wage would help and not hurt the economy and it would give many Americans a better livelihood and a more secured life. In today’s society it is very expensive to live in American and even getting by daily is difficult if you are living on minimum wage. Therefore, anyone who thinks the minimum wage should not be raised should try living in
Americans are not wrong in thinking that increasing the minimum wage will increase low-wage working families’ incomes, and some of these families will rise above the national poverty threshold. While increasing the minimum wage might benefit some American families, it will hurt others. Increasing the minimum wage will eliminate many low wage jobs, which would then result in many people jobless and therefore, a substantial drop in those individuals’ household incomes (“The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income”). . “Raising the country’s minimum wage could boost the incomes of millions of Americans, but it could also potentially cut total employment by hundreds of thousands of workers” (Kurtzleben). An increase in the minimum wage lowers employment, which makes it harder for these workers with minimal skills to find a job. Congress then explains that low income families will actually not bring in any benefits from an increase of the minimum wage (“Would an Increase in the Federal Minimum Wage Help or Hinder Small Business” 2-3). While increasing the minimum wage might raise the standards of living for some low wage workers and families, if the increase in minimum wage reduces employment rates, there is no certain answer on what
The minimum wage has always been a controversial subject that has more and more people debating about the subject. While the talk about minimum wages are highly popular it is an important subject to get informed about if you’re an employee or employer because it has to deal with your money. What is minimum wage? Minimum wage is the hourly wage an employer can pay an employee for his or her work. While the talk about raising the minimum wage has caused some attention in both negative and positive. Nevertheless, the topic that the minimum wage offers substantial benefits to low wage workers without any negative effects to business owners has a growing view among economists.
It is very difficult to live in America if you are living off of minimum wage, and many Americans are living off of it today. Raising minimum wages has its benefits like gaining more money to live better, but people do not see the down side of the increases in wages. With the increase in minimum wage, it also causes the cost of living to increase. How can this help the economy or help people? Minimum wages in America should not be increased because it will cause cost of living to increase, reduce employment, and cause businesses to lose money and workers.
The minimum wage being too low has been a public issue in America for generations. Basically, the debate includes two different opinions. Firstly, people who want to raise the minimum wage, and second, people who would rather is stay the same. The overwhelming majority of liberals are on the side that favors a raise. Additionally, a somewhat smaller proportion of conservatives favor the change as well, but for different reasons. The liberal opinion on raising the minimum wage is based on the idea that putting more money in the people’s pockets, will stimulate the economy, and decrease poverty. The problem that conservatives and liberals alike have with this, is that a few direct consequences are proven to apply when raising wages. Some proposed consequences include unemployment, inflation, and unfairness to higher educated people. Another main point is that raising the minimum wage is thought to helps small business by increasing worker satisfaction. This issue of minimum wage has become increasingly popular and important in current times, as president Obama has proposed the idea of raising the minimum wage of contract workers to 10.10$ per hour (about a 30% increase from the current 7.25$ per hour minimum wage). A large number of people consider this wage hike unnecessary due to the fact that today’s value of minimum is higher than it has ever been since the 80’s, and because the wage hike comes at too high of a cost. All things considered, the issue of raising minimum wage is not a battle of political parties and their agendas, its really a debate between everyone.
For many people in the United States, life is no more than a regular work cycle. Members of working class usually have a High School diploma and may work in a low skilled occupation or manual labor. Most of the enjoying age of this people is spent in working, as they don’t want their new once to have a life they struggling through. Therefore, this essay will argue that minimum wage should be increased federally to $15/hour by 2017. Firstly, if taxes touches the sky, why should the minimum wage be on the ground? Increasing minimum wages would also create new opportunities for education as the students wouldn’t have to work crazy hours. Likewise, many couples won’t have to work multiple jobs in order to manage the household. Lastly, it will lift
A minimum wage is an hourly wage that is established by the government which represents the minimum amount an individual receives per hour. The federal minimum wage was established in 1938 under the “Presidency of Franklin Roosevelt” (Henderson). Currently, majority of the states have their minimum wage less than $10. However, the federal government wants to increase the minimum wage to $12 across the United States. The federal government believes that increasing the minimum wage will assist numerous people in the United States as most individuals are working in a minimum wage job to support their families. About “75.3 million people ages sixteen and over worked for hourly wages in 2008, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics” (“Minimum Wage”). Meaning almost a quarter of the workforce of this nation are working a minimum wage job. Numerous people believe that these workers are not able to make their ends meet, and increasing the minimum wage will help these individuals substantially. Even though people believe that increasing the minimum wage will benefit the society, they tend to overlook the drawbacks of increasing the minimum wage, and how it will prove to be detrimental for the society.
For the past three decades minimum wage has been seen to rise several times. Only helping some but more than anything harming most. So who are the ones feeling the effects? Certainly not the wealthy, it never is them, mainly it would be the working poor, unskilled and teenagers. Raising minimum wage would cripple the public even more than what it would actually help.