Increasing Minimum Wage Essay

“Merriam-Webster defines minimum wage as “a wage fixed by legal authority” or by contract the least that may be paid either to employed people generally or to a particular category of employed persons” (Richason IV 1). Recently, President Barack Obama raised the minimum wage for all federal contractors to $10.10 per hour and called on Congress to raise the federal minimum wage for all employed people; advocates in states as diverse as Alaska, Idaho, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Dakota have lobbied for an increase to state wage rates; and surrogates for fast-food and retail workers have staged strikes to demand as much as $15 per hour. These calls pose a serious threat to America’s small businesses and to the very individuals the minimum…

An example of unemployment increases resulted from minimum wage increases in the recent years can be evidently seen when looking at the rates of unemployment. The minimum wage is frequently sold to the public as good for workers, for minorities, and women, however, it actually hurts those whom it’s intended to help. Therefore, an increase hurts employment. Despite the unsettled debate, Congress kept increasing the minimum wage yet failed to see the impact it had on employment. Authors of Minimum…

Reducing worker’s hours, due to an increase in minimum wage, affect employees who work lower end jobs. If the unemployment rate increases, the possibility of getting a job can be slim because of everyone else looking to get hired. If there are not enough jobs, people with a higher education will be attracted to lower end jobs and will surpass those who typically work the lower end jobs (Reisman). If two applicants apply for the same lower end job, one with a higher education than the other, the…

is that the minimum wage is currently too low. Many protestors argue that families are not able to survive on it if one or both parents work minimum wage jobs. One side suggests that the minimum wage should be more than doubled to fifteen dollars an hour so that families would be able to provide for themselves and possibly even enjoy life. The other viewpoint of the argument is that the current minimum wage should stay the same as it is. Many business owners argue this case because they are not…

Minimum wage is the set amount an individual makes an hour. There is no set minimum wage from state to state. It must be equal or greater than the federal level. Many people thought of the minimum wage to be a violation of the 5th amendment. In 1938 there was a minimum wage set at 40 cents an hour. The state with the largest minimum wage is Washington which is set at $8.55. As the economy changes so will the minimum wage. It hasn 't been changed from 7.50 in five years. If the minimum wage was…

Minimum wage continues to increase but does it increase enough? Minimum wage right now for Florida is set at $8.05 but who can really live off that. Many adults who can not get a degree now living off minimum wage. A coworker of mine who is 24 earns minimum wage while working in a retail store. She is forced to work over 40 hours a week just to afford her rent, phone bill and car payments. With the income she is making she still can’t afford to get an apartment so she is obligated to pay rent to…

The first federal minimum wage rate was enacted on Oct 24, 1938 at $0.25 per hour and has been increasing ever since. The minimum wage is set so that employers cannot pay their employees below the minimum rate. While the federal government set the minimum wage to $7.25 in 2009 many states have passed legislations to raise the living wage and succeed. Therefore now many states have a higher base pay than the purposed federal wage rate. The option to increase or decrease minimum wages has been a…

increase the minimum wage from $11.40 to $15 by 2019. Since the news of this wage hike came out, many have been in favour of it while others, mostly small businesses to say, have been perturbed by it. As any average student my age would be satisfied with this wage hike decision, I on the contrary, think increasing the minimum wage by almost $3.60 would be unjust towards small businesses and will in fact cause inflation in the economy. First of all, as mentioned in the article on ‘Raising the…

Raising the minimum wage is a debate now argued on street corners, in corporate boardrooms, and even in the courtrooms of America. The financial predicament of the low to middle class wage earner needs to supersede the conservative thinkers who control Congress. America’s lowest paid hourly workers deserve to earn a decent living. Increasing the minimum wage will offer them that chance. An increase in the hourly minimum wage will give workers more income to support their families. Andrew Dugan,…

The simple definition of minimum wage according to the Merriam Webster dictionary is an amount of money that is the least amount of money per hour that workers must be paid according to the law. Minimum wage was first introduced and dated back to the presidency of FDR in 1938. The minimum wage back then was about .25 cents an hour, take note that the dollar and money back then did not have its value like it does in today 's economy. Minimum wage was introduced as part of the Fair Labor Standards…