Raising The Minimum Wage Increase Essay - 897 Words

Analysis of Policy There have been discussions about whether to raise the minimum wage to either $9.00, $10.10, or $15.00 per hour. The minimum wage increase is supposed to be the first step to solving the income inequality problem in America and a step towards economic growth in America, by helping to stimulate the economy. Research into the effects of the wage increase shows, to me, that a higher minimum wage does not cause a drastic change in unemployment. It does increase productivity, and will address the growing problem of rising income inequality. I have included both the positive and negative sides to increasing the minimum wage, within this paper. Heather Boushey, Executive Director and Chief Economist said, â€Å"The best way to fight poverty is to make sure people have jobs with decent wages that put them above the poverty line (Boushey, 2014).† Meaning that raising the minimum wage would help to reduce poverty. Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour will reduce the poverty rate for non-elderly Americans to 15.8 percent from current 17.5 percent (Boushey, 2014). This increase would bring about 6.8 million people out of poverty. Concurrently, a 2015 Purdue University study found that raising the wage of fast food restaurant employees to $15 per hour would result in a price increase of 4.3% and 25% respectively, or a reduction in product size between 12% and 70 (Boushey, 2014). NBC News found that the price of a cup of coffee went up by 10% to 20% in Oakland,Show MoreRelatedEssay on Raising Minimum Wage Increases Unemployment1420 Words   |  6 Pageshelps families make ends meet like higher wages. †¦ And to everyone in this Congress who still refuses to raise the minimum wage, I say this: If you truly believe you could work full-time and support a family on less than $15,000 a year, go try it. If not, vote to give millions of the hardest-working people in America a raise.† -–President Obama, State of the Union address, Jan. 20, 2015 President Barack Obama is renewing his call to raise the minimum wage to $10.10. During a speech at a manufacturingRead MoreRaising The Minimum Wage Increase On Employment And Family Income Essay877 Words   |  4 PagesRaising the minimum wage America’s economy is built upon the free enterprise system which operates according to five principles: the freedom to choose our businesses, right to private property, profit motive, competition, and consumer freedom. This system allows pricing of goods and services and employee wages to be determined by the market. Raising the minimum wage will adversely affect the pricing of consumer goods and employee wages and can temporarily disrupt our economic system. According toRead MoreRaising The Minimum Wage Should Not Increase The Value Of The Worker s Labor1280 Words   |  6 PagesRaising the minimum wage does not increase the value of the worker s labor. It increases the cost of the worker s labor. And as everyone knows, the more something costs, the less of it we buy...† (Antony Davies, PhD, Associate Professor of Economics at Duquesne University, and James R. Harrigan, PhD, Senior Fellow at the Institute of Political Economy at Utah State University). In this day and age, the federal minimum wage is a very prevalent topic among Americans. Should it be raised? Or willRead MoreRaising the Minimum Wage: A Counter-Intuitive Solution Essay753 Words   |  4 PagesWhile some believe that raising the minimum wage will resolve poverty issues and lack of pay with the signing of legislation, the raising of the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour (as advocated by President Obama and the Democrats) would cause the poverty issue to be worse than it already is; inflation would occur, employees would be laid off, and minimum wage employees would lose welfare benefits, thus offsetting the wage increase. The Government should consider the effects on the American economy asRead MoreMinimum Wage Laws For The United States Essay1742 Words   |  7 PagesThe minimum wage is the mandated price floor paid on hourly or daily basis for the employees regulated by the government or the union. In â€Å"Federal Minimum Wage†, New Zealand and Australia enacted the first minimum wage law during the late 19th century to prevent employers’ exploitation of workers. In 1912, Massachusetts passed the first minimum wage legislation in the US that was enforced for women and children, and fifteen more states followed in the next eleven years. However, the Supreme CourtRead MoreMinimum Wage Should Be Raised910 Words   |  4 Pagesmaximize the American Dream on the minimum wage† (Benjamin Todd Jealous). In 1938, minimum wage was created by the federal government in order to protect workers by ensuring a minimum of twenty-five cents per hour worked. Though President Roosevelt had the right idea in protecting the workforce, something needs to be done to ensure that Americans are getting a reasonable amount of money for the amount of hours they have worked. As Benjamin Todd Jealous stated, minimum wage is not enough for the averageRead MoreMinimum Wage And The Wage Essay1204 Words   |  5 PagesThe minimum wage is one of the most controversial issues on our country, which is United States has been facing last ten years. There have been never ending debates over this issue until the government, company, and others party stand together, and raise the minimum wage throughout the nations. There are communities that believe raise the minimum wage has negative impact of every sector of the country. Other communities have different beliefs over the issue, raising the minimum wage helps the poorRead MoreEffects of Increasing Minimum Wage Essay988 Words   |  4 PagesThe idea of having a federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers from discrimination and allow all workers to earn a living wage. The recent debate on the floor, though, is whether or not to raise the minimum wage from the current $7.25 per hour up to $10.10 per hour. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address on January 28, and following this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only onRead MoreRaising The Federal Minimum Wage889 Words   |  4 Pageshow raising the federal minimum wage would positively effect the economy. In doing so, I will be discussing how an increase in the federal minimum wage would make a vast improvement on the way many low income families live, and also how raising the federal minimum wage would boost the economy as it desperately needs. In raising the federal minimum wage, one might argue that it would cause a spike in the unemployment rate. The reasoning is that it would force employers to balance the increase in wagesRead MoreThe Minimum Wage Debate870 Words   |  4 PagesThe minimum wage debate has recently made a large comeback in United States politics. Contemporary studies show over 3.8 million Americans are paid at or below minimum wage (Dickinson 33). Many have looked skeptically back on past wage systems and have questioned wage’s relationship to current market inflation. In response to this inquiry, a large majority of the general population, relatively unrelated to their degree of income, support legislation to increase the minimum. However, the issue has