Minimum Wage Research Paper
Argument paper # 1
Toussaint 1
Stephan Toussaint
Professor Swint
ENC1102 Sec 90
13 October 2014
Minimum Wage; Should it be raised?
In the economy were in today, people, businesses and politicians are trying to figure out a solution to fix the problem that we found ourselves in. One of those solutions was simply to raise the minimum wage, some have agreed, others haven 't. The federal minimum wage shouldn 't be raised any higher then what it already is for several valid reasons. Occupations that pay only the minimum wage are meant to lead on to lifetime careers or higher levels of employment, which offer higher wages. To the naked eye it may seem that raising the minimum wage would help people in poverty with limited job skills afford the …show more content…
necessities of life as we know it, but raising the minimum wage would ultimately be detrimental to their life. As employers would be faced to pay their employees more, they would encounter several issues involving payroll and product pricing. Raising the minimum wage would also be difficult for small business owners to cope with.
They are forced to compete with retail giants while also paying a competent staff well enough to keep them from leaving. If the minimum wage were to increase, it is likely that unemployment would go up because storeowners would not be able to afford as many workers; layoffs in businesses that pay the minimum wage would be common.
Some would argue that increasing the minimum wage would encourage more spending, which would put money into and stimulate the economy, but the logic of that is simple: Stores would
Toussaint 2 raise their product prices to respond to the higher employee wages and people living on minimum wage would essentially be back to square one in their checkbook. While the federal minimum wage is often seen as a tool used to keep poor people from having to depend on government programs such as welfare, the money they are paid often is simply not enough to fund all aspects of their lives, especially if the minimum wage earners have children. The government has a responsibility to it 's citizens, impoverished and otherwise, which is where the minimum wage must step in. However, making such a large increase will, in the end, make the minimum wage earners worst …show more content…
off.
Increasing the minimum wage also leads to a lot more job competition, this increase in competition is just going to make it more difficult then it already is for low-skilled workers to find employment. Me as a sixteen year old, it was extremely difficult for me to find any type of employment. It took me over a year before I got my first job but, realistically speaking, how much longer would it have took me if all the businesses I applied to couldn 't afford to take on another worker? With a higher minimum wage, the benefits businesses can afford to provide employees can also decrease. According to economist William Wascher of "Neumark and The
Federal Reserve Board," employers that must cut costs and don 't offer health insurance may feel the need to reduce the amount of training offered to new employees and eliminate formal training of any type, thus reducing job benefits. This continuing cycle of increasing minimum wage will never end, as soon as the minimum wage gets raised, the people will want it to be raised even further. Just adding to the abnormal inflation. When people realize they can make let 's say fifth teen dollars an hour from minimum wage, this will dissuade vast amounts of people from furthering their education. This will simply cause even more job competition like said
Toussaint 3 before and there will also be an increase to the "blue collar" work pool. Job loss or unemployment is very easy to figure out and realize for yourself. For example, if a business has a hourly cap of 80$ and they compensate their employees for eight dollars an hour each, they can have ten employees. But if this minimum wage was increased to let 's say sixteen dollars an hour then this same company would only be able to have five employees at a time.
The pros for raising the minimum wage is very minimal. Some of the most brought up statements when supporting the topic are that it increases the standard of living for the poorest and most vulnerable class in society and raises the average. Also that it decreases the cost of government social welfare programs by increasing incomes for the lowest paid. Increases the work ethic of those who earn very little, as employers demand more return from the higher costs of hiring these employees. Even with some "pros" to this topic, the cons highly outweigh the pros. For every pro there 's ten cons and that 's not very good odds for the opposition. With all the negatives that raising minimum wage would do, the positives wouldn 't be that significant either, it has a very low impact. It accomplishes little in the way of reducing poverty. The population of minimum wage workers is relatively small when compared to others members of the working force, so only a select group of individuals benefit from the change. Additionally, a raised minimum wage does nothing for those who are unemployed to begin with. Even if it was raised it doesn 't even remotely help the very people who wanted the change.
Could anyone imagine working at a place for two years and earning a raise from seven to nine dollars and the next day minimum wage has caught up to your earnings. Doesn 't sound to bad right, I mean they could just bump my pay from nine to eleven but no, it doesn 't work that way. After having such a rapid increase in cost to employees, the last thing an employer will want to do is give even more
Toussaint 4 money away. All in all raising this minimum wage will be a complete waste of time solely because of the fact it doesn 't benefit anyone and only seems to hurt the people who did and do not want it to happen.
Toussaint 5
Citations
"Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of
Labor." Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
"State Minimum Wages | 2014 Minimum Wage by State." State Minimum Wages | 2014
Minimum Wage by State. NCSL, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"The Florida Minimum Wage." Florida Minimum Wage Rate 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
"Will the Minimum Wage Increase Hurt the Economy?" Will the Minimum Wage Increase Hurt the Economy? N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct.
2014.
Toussaint 1
Stephan Toussaint
Professor Swint
ENC1102 Sec 90
13 October 2014
Minimum Wage; Should it be raised?
In the economy were in today, people, businesses and politicians are trying to figure out a solution to fix the problem that we found ourselves in. One of those solutions was simply to raise the minimum wage, some have agreed, others haven 't. The federal minimum wage shouldn 't be raised any higher then what it already is for several valid reasons. Occupations that pay only the minimum wage are meant to lead on to lifetime careers or higher levels of employment, which offer higher wages. To the naked eye it may seem that raising the minimum wage would help people in poverty with limited job skills afford the …show more content…
necessities of life as we know it, but raising the minimum wage would ultimately be detrimental to their life. As employers would be faced to pay their employees more, they would encounter several issues involving payroll and product pricing. Raising the minimum wage would also be difficult for small business owners to cope with.
They are forced to compete with retail giants while also paying a competent staff well enough to keep them from leaving. If the minimum wage were to increase, it is likely that unemployment would go up because storeowners would not be able to afford as many workers; layoffs in businesses that pay the minimum wage would be common.
Some would argue that increasing the minimum wage would encourage more spending, which would put money into and stimulate the economy, but the logic of that is simple: Stores would
Toussaint 2 raise their product prices to respond to the higher employee wages and people living on minimum wage would essentially be back to square one in their checkbook. While the federal minimum wage is often seen as a tool used to keep poor people from having to depend on government programs such as welfare, the money they are paid often is simply not enough to fund all aspects of their lives, especially if the minimum wage earners have children. The government has a responsibility to it 's citizens, impoverished and otherwise, which is where the minimum wage must step in. However, making such a large increase will, in the end, make the minimum wage earners worst …show more content…
off.
Increasing the minimum wage also leads to a lot more job competition, this increase in competition is just going to make it more difficult then it already is for low-skilled workers to find employment. Me as a sixteen year old, it was extremely difficult for me to find any type of employment. It took me over a year before I got my first job but, realistically speaking, how much longer would it have took me if all the businesses I applied to couldn 't afford to take on another worker? With a higher minimum wage, the benefits businesses can afford to provide employees can also decrease. According to economist William Wascher of "Neumark and The
Federal Reserve Board," employers that must cut costs and don 't offer health insurance may feel the need to reduce the amount of training offered to new employees and eliminate formal training of any type, thus reducing job benefits. This continuing cycle of increasing minimum wage will never end, as soon as the minimum wage gets raised, the people will want it to be raised even further. Just adding to the abnormal inflation. When people realize they can make let 's say fifth teen dollars an hour from minimum wage, this will dissuade vast amounts of people from furthering their education. This will simply cause even more job competition like said
Toussaint 3 before and there will also be an increase to the "blue collar" work pool. Job loss or unemployment is very easy to figure out and realize for yourself. For example, if a business has a hourly cap of 80$ and they compensate their employees for eight dollars an hour each, they can have ten employees. But if this minimum wage was increased to let 's say sixteen dollars an hour then this same company would only be able to have five employees at a time.
The pros for raising the minimum wage is very minimal. Some of the most brought up statements when supporting the topic are that it increases the standard of living for the poorest and most vulnerable class in society and raises the average. Also that it decreases the cost of government social welfare programs by increasing incomes for the lowest paid. Increases the work ethic of those who earn very little, as employers demand more return from the higher costs of hiring these employees. Even with some "pros" to this topic, the cons highly outweigh the pros. For every pro there 's ten cons and that 's not very good odds for the opposition. With all the negatives that raising minimum wage would do, the positives wouldn 't be that significant either, it has a very low impact. It accomplishes little in the way of reducing poverty. The population of minimum wage workers is relatively small when compared to others members of the working force, so only a select group of individuals benefit from the change. Additionally, a raised minimum wage does nothing for those who are unemployed to begin with. Even if it was raised it doesn 't even remotely help the very people who wanted the change.
Could anyone imagine working at a place for two years and earning a raise from seven to nine dollars and the next day minimum wage has caught up to your earnings. Doesn 't sound to bad right, I mean they could just bump my pay from nine to eleven but no, it doesn 't work that way. After having such a rapid increase in cost to employees, the last thing an employer will want to do is give even more
Toussaint 4 money away. All in all raising this minimum wage will be a complete waste of time solely because of the fact it doesn 't benefit anyone and only seems to hurt the people who did and do not want it to happen.
Toussaint 5
Citations
"Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of
Labor." Minimum Wage Laws in the States - Wage and Hour Division (WHD) - U.S. Department of Labor. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
"State Minimum Wages | 2014 Minimum Wage by State." State Minimum Wages | 2014
Minimum Wage by State. NCSL, 17 Sept. 2014. Web. 15 Oct. 2014.
"The Florida Minimum Wage." Florida Minimum Wage Rate 2014. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Oct. 2014.
"Will the Minimum Wage Increase Hurt the Economy?" Will the Minimum Wage Increase Hurt the Economy? N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Oct.
2014.