The Pros And Cons Of Raising Minimum Wage

There is never enough money in the world. Some people get greedy and just want it for things that make them happy. Others do not have enough and cannot live a happy, healthy life because of the lack of money. One solution to this problem would be to raise minimum wage. Another solution is to set a yearly raise for all workers rather than one big jump from $7.25 to $10.10. This has been debated for sometime with no outcome. The pros and cons of this debate butt heads with facts, opinions, and reason. One says it will increase employment, another says it will not change employment, and the last says it will decrease employment. Along with changing or not changing employment, raising minimum wage would pull people out of poverty and help others

get close to being out of poverty. Then again, there are researchers who say it wouldn’t affect poverty in the least.
There are good things that can come out of raising minimum wage. More citizens would be happy because they have more money. If it was raised to $10.10 per hour it could potentially pull the poor out of poverty. There are 5.5 percent of nonelderly that are below poverty and 2.3 million of these people could be lifted out of poverty, which lowers their poverty rate by one percentage point (Bernstein and Shierholz, 1037). It is not a permanent fix, but it would still help millions of people get, and stay out of, poverty. Others could be on their way over the poverty line. Another raise in the future can be inferred due to changes that are sure to come involving the economy.
“The vast majority of those who would see a raise live in low- and moderate-income households. More than half (51.9 percent) live in households where the total income is less than $40,000; more than two-thirds (68.9 percent) live in households where the total income is less than $60,000, and 87.6 percent of the workers who would get a raise live in households where the total family income is less than $100,000” (Bernstein and Shierholz, 1041). Millions of people would see a raise in their wages if there were to be a raise in minimum wage. All of the numbers would change and more households would be making more money and be above the poverty line.
Raising minimum wage could help new citizen and old citizens live the “American Dream” because they would be financially stable. Whoever said, “Money can’t buy happiness,” never had a lack of it. People these days are struggling to pay medical bills, mortgages, college loans, and much more because they simply do not have the money for it. Adults need to have two or more jobs just to keep the lights on and families with two parents have to work a total of four jobs to keep food in their children’s bellies. Raising the minimum wage would help families like this who do not have a high enough education to get a higher paying job. Families would have more time available to spend with each other because the mother and father would only need one job to keep them financially stable. Money can buy the things that make people happy. Families could live the American Dream.
People in poverty didn’t come here or ask to be in poverty. Everyone was told the same story about the American Dream and how the United States in where it could be found. People came from all over to see this dream and to experience this dream. Some can’t even begin to experience it because they are in poverty. “When more than 15 percent of the nation’s population is living below the poverty level, when there is no real minimum wage across the nation, when the cost of food, housing, and education prevents millions of people from living healthy and productive lives, there is no economic justice for all” (Combs, 228). “The Poor, those living below poverty, and the Near Poor, those living just above poverty, often have one major thing in common—the minimum wage”, with the change in minimum wage the poor will have something different in common, more money (Combs, 232).
“If a change in the effective minimum wage in a state (i.e., the maximum of the state and federal minimum wages) affects employment not only in its own state but also in other, neighboring states” (Kalenkoski, 407).

For example, if one state raises their minimum wage and it were higher than its neighboring state, more people would want to move to get higher pay. Employment would go up in the state with the new minimum wage, but it will also plummet in the now workless state. A solution to this problem would be to make every state equal. Rather than raising the minimum wage in one state, raise the federal minimum wage. The pay will be the same in every state and the effects of the raise will be similar in every

state.
Bruce E. Kaufman disagrees with other researchers. He and others on his side believe “it reduces jobs for low-wage workers, increases unemployment, does little to reduce poverty (because the majority of minimum wage workers do not live in such households), reduces training opportunities for youth, and reduces wages for low-skilled workers in uncovered jobs” (Kaufman, 430). Low-waged workers loss their jobs because employers don’t want to be paying so much for something so little. This then increases unemployment and puts more people into poverty when the main goal, as stated by Russell Sobel, was “’lifting families out of poverty’ and ‘alter the distribution of income in favor of low-income households’” (Kaufman, 430). It also wouldn’t help people out of poverty because minimum wage jobs aren’t meant to make a living off of. Teenagers and people with no higher education are the ones who have the jobs that pay minimum wage. Even the teenagers would start to lose training opportunities because there are others taking their jobs.
Kaufman also brought up work that he discovered from Sidney and Beatrice Webb. “The Webbs used the term “minimum wage” interchangeably with “living wage,” but in their time the two concepts were regarded as distinct though substantially overlapping” (Kaufman, 431). People today are trying to live off of minimum wage while having a family to provide for. The Webbs wrote their book Industrial Democracy in 1897. The quote above is from said book and the date itself shows how much has change. Minimum wage can no longer be associated with living wage because it just not realistic. The economy is changing and everything along with it. Everything is rising in price to help accommodate for the money that doesn’t exist.
Joseph Sabia and Richard Burkhauser found research that shows the “state and federal minimum wage increases between 2003 and 2007 had no effect on state poverty rates” (Minimum Wages and Povert, 592). One reason is had no effect is because “Card and Krueger (1995) emphasize that minimum wages fail to reduce poverty because many poor Americans do not work” (Sabia and Kurkhauser, 593). If the poor is not working to get out of poverty than the percentage won’t go up. The federal government is trying to help their people, but in reality they cannot do anything unless their people do something in return. For those that do work, they will either lose their job or get their hours cut so much that the raise could then drop others further into poverty (Sabia and Burkhauser, 593). This is where the increase in unemployment is from. People are loosing their jobs because employers don’t want to waste their money.
Raising minimum wage will either have a negative affect or a positive one. Many researchers have a different outlook on all of the reasons it could be good or bad. It is unclear what affects minimum wage would have on the people in poverty and it will stay that way until there is a decision made about it. Though the raise between 2003 and 2007 showed no increase, there has been changed in the world that could change what is affected and how it is affected (Sabia and Burkhauser, 592).
Another solution to the problem could be to gradually raise everyone’s pay depending on the economy.

Raising minimum wage by almost three dollars in one fell swoop would be a drastic change for any business. By raising someone’s wage a little each year to accommodate for the rise in merchandise costs, it could help employers and employees. Employees would have more money to help accommodate for their needs. Businesses will have time to budget and give their employees what they desire. Lastly, low-skilled workers could gain experience, skills, and money at a steady pace.

The cost of living goes up each year. Merchandise begins to get a little more expensive. This is all to accommodate for the change in economy. America is in debt and they are doing what needs to be done to pull the country out of debt. Businesses also do not want to be in debt. If the change in minimum wage is as much as three more dollars, they could go into debt themselves unless they let some staff go. By having some time to budget and prepare for the raise it could save jobs and a big mess of

debt.
Poverty cannot be cured in one year’s time. Poverty cannot be fix with one simple change with money. Overtime, with the gradual increase in work places, people will begin to climb over the poverty line by their own doings. Citizens who are in poverty and are not worker can only encourage themselves to get out of poverty. If they are motivated and encouraged by the gradual raise, the poor non-workers can get themselves out of poverty too.
In conclusion, there is no way to tell if something good or bad will come out of raising minimum raise. The research was done, but researchers still cannot determine a final outcome. Though a three dollar raise sounds nice to most people, it doesn’t seem like a realistic change that is coming. A change in salary or pay per hours every year does sound like a solution that could work in favor of everyone.