Raising The Minimum Wage Essay

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Minimum wage is a big part of the government and culture in the United States, and it has been for many years. It was created to be of benefit to the poor or less skilled workers in the working world. The minimum wage has evolved throughout the years since the late 1800’s. But what do people really know about it? What is minimum wage? How did it start? Is it good for the society? Minimum wage resulted from the Great Depression of the United States in the 1930’s. During the Great Depression the stock market crashed and banks and businesses went bankrupt. As a result about one-third of the working force found themselves unemployed. Workers were forced to leave their own farming or personal businesses for factories, where they were paid very low …show more content…

Raising the minimum wage can be very helpful and beneficial to low-wage workers, but unfortunately their job could be at risk because of it. Raising the minimum wage rate is only one part of any solution to improving low-wage earnings. Although it plays a big part in it, the problem is not necessarily getting enough pay as much as it is not getting enough hours. Regardless of the workers opinion, the employer can give how ever many hours they wish to their employees as they see fit for the business. Which means if the pay goes up and the labor gets high, then hours will be cut. More money with less hours results in less pay. The idea of raising the minimum wage more and more sounds great, but it won’t be effective if hours are decreased. So if the minimum wage was raised the low-wage workers, who are making just enough to live out of poverty, they will be greatly benefited in earning more pay. But if their hours are cut due to the raise, then they can’t earn any more than they did with the lower wage. The impact of increase in minimum wage seems to be directly related to the issue of job loss.

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