Persuasive Essay On Minimum Wage

1325 Words3 Pages

Raising the minimum wage would have too many negative ripple effects theoretically and realistically. In 2016, online activity for the phrase increased minimum wage reached its second highest point per Google Trends. Politically, socially, and economically minimum wage has both opponents and proponents scratching their heads. Two parties are clear split on the topic and University students should clear stand on one side if they truly care about everyone’s long term goals. Minimum wage should not be increased at the federal level because it rids the taught principles, tarnishes the purpose of having a minimum wage, and due its negative effects on both the present and future. Progressing to the obstruction of key and foundational principles …show more content…

Minimum wage was established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938 when congress passed The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. He intended to help the low skill factor workers from being over worked and under paid. A country founded on capitalism, created a safety net to keep the able and willing from bottoming out. Fast-forward to the 21st century where an abundance of jobs exists, legal and illegal. Minimum wage today is used to give even the lowest of the willing and able a job that isn’t illegal. Most peer reviewed, unbiased, data (even from proponents of increasing minimum wage) suggests that a loss in jobs is inevitable. Research from Dr. Steve H. Hanke while at Johns Hopkins University had a scope of 21 different European Union countries and their respective unemployment rates versus the countries’ minimum wage laws. He found that, “the 21 European Union (EU) countries that have a minimum wage and found they had an average unemployment rate of 11.8%, about a third higher than the 7.9% average unemployment rate in the seven EU countries that have no minimum wage” which reveals an unsettling reality of minimum wage (Hanke, Cato.org). Moreover, the reality of living in a set minimum wage society is the importance of teaching our youth budgetary responsibilities. Responsibilities like saving for important things, the difference between want and need, and …show more content…

One of the present and current implications of an increased minimum wage will be the workforce it attracts. Even with the increased minimum wage the job is still a minimum skill job, but with more applicants. Students out of high school unaware of the current workforce situation see a shining hourly wage and would rather start making money now than two to four years later. Economics Dr. John Perry explains the economic principle, Law of Demand in the realm of minimum wage, “The Law of Demand tells us that as the wage (price) of low-skilled/unskilled is artificially increased through legislation, the quantity demanded for those labor services by employers will fall,” and says this isn’t the main contributor to the jobless rate (Perry, aei.org). Dr. Perry goes into more depth about the economic principle, Law of Supply, which would primarily affect high school aged

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