Raising Minimum Wage In The United States

In the United States, the federal government sets a minimum wage that all employers must adhere by. As of 2014, just over three million workers were getting paid at or below minimum wage, which is currently $7.25 (Haugen). Although many employers are fine with the set amount of minimum wage, numerous workers believe that there needs to be a raise in minimum wage to help support a modest quality of life.
Many business owners are against the raising of minimum wage because they believe that it will end up hurting the economy more than helping it. The largest concern for business owners is that if there is an increase in minimum wage, then jobs thousands of jobs will be cut, due to smaller businesses not being able to pay the employee's (Mejeur).

Jeanne Mejeur, senior researcher at the National Conference of State Legislatures, claims, “Labor costs are the largest share of the budget for many businesses. Mandatory increases in hourly wages mean that businesses will be forced to cut jobs or reduce hours to maintain their bottom line. That could mean no income or reduced income for low-wage workers” (Mejeur). Another concern is that the increase in labor cost will translate to an increase in the price of products. These higher prices will decrease the demand for the products, which will lead to a declining economy.
Throughout the past decade, millions of workers have protested for an increase in minimum wage from $7.25 to around $12.

The most popular reason for increasing the minimum wage is that it will give more money to those who are below the poverty line. The 2013 Congressional Research Service report states, “A single parent with two children who works full time at the current minimum wage would be earning around $15,000 and living at 76 percent of the federal poverty level. If the federal minimum wage was raised from the current $7.25 to $9.00 an hour, the same family would be at 94 percent of the poverty line” (Mejeur). It is also believed that an increase in minimum wage will spark economic growth. The Economic Policy Institute claims $2.85 increase to the current wage amount would bring around $22.1 billion net into the current economy and create around 85,000 new jobs over a three year period (Should the Federal Minimum Wage Be Increased?). Finally, the increase would greatly reduce government welfare spending. With an increase in wages to lower class workers, they would be less dependent on government benefits. According to the Center for American Progress, “Our results imply that the effects of the Harkin-Miller proposal on wage increases would reduce SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] enrollments by between 7.5 percent and 8.7 percent (3.1 million to 3.6 million persons). The total anticipated annual decrease in program expenditures is nearly $4.6 billion, or about 6 percent of current SNAP program expenditures”

(West).