The Minimum Wage Debate - 870 Words

The 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 split into a bipartisan debate in Washington. Liberal ideals stem from the belief that raising the minimum wage is positive and helps close the income gap; alternatively, conservatives feel raising the minimum wage causes unnecessary harm to†¦show more content†¦More money reenters the economy and that business sector’s profit is maintained if not increased. Legislation to raise the minimum wage in the United States is a necessary tool to assist working impoverished fa milies. Mike Konczal states, â€Å"Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 would lift 4.6 million people out of poverty (33). As well as lifting millions from poverty, the increase would greatly impact those living in extremely poor conditions and shrink how far below the poverty line others are. These figures display the minimum wage’s necessary role in the alleviation of poverty. It is well known that families who emerge from poverty are unlikely to return to their former conditions. Economists argue that the poor can be helped in better ways such as â€Å"income tax credits for low-income workers or tax policies that encourage asset development and savings for low-income families† (Mejeur 15). These policies can be effective, but raising the income of poorer families, heightened in combination with other strategies, bluntly helps a broad population of those in need. Since the government already has systems to narrowly target individuals, such as the Earned Income Tax Cr edit (EITC), the minimum wage is a more effective new force in fighting poverty (Konczal 34). Increasing the minimum wage floor not only aids those in poor conditions but also improves employer situations. Higher minimum wages solve the matter of quick job turnoverShow MoreRelatedThe Debate On Minimum Wage907 Words   |  4 PagesThe minimum wages are supposed to ensure the hourly wage workers are able to earn enough money to support themselves with the cost of living. Over the years, the cost of living keeps increasing every year due to the inflation and yet the minimum wages have not been changed since 2007. The minimum wages should be increasing along with inflation rates so that way we can ensure that our hourly wage workers have ability to support themselves. In the past nine years, according to Bureau of Labor StatisticsRead MoreThe Minimum Wage Debate1637 Words   |  7 PagesThe minimum wage debate brings about a range of reactions from different people. There are those wh o believe that there shouldn’t even be a minimum wage and that wages should be determined by the markets. On the other hand, we have those who vigorously argue for increasing the wage minimum citing inflation, the poverty line and worker productivity. Regardless, we do have a federal minimum wage rate in the United States at $7.25 per hour, with some states having a higher minimum wage than the federalRead MoreThe Debate Over The Minimum Wage Debate1737 Words   |  7 Pagesduring Carnegie’s time and would mark the very beginning of long and difficult process to achieve worker’s rights that still continue to this day. The minimum wage debate is without a doubt part of these negotiations and has taken the spotlight in recent years. There are two sides to the minimum wage debate: the employees fighting for higher wages who would like to earn enough to keep food on the table for their family, and the employer who is doing what they can to keep costs low and ensure thatRead MoreThe Debate Over Minimum Wage940 Words   |  4 Pages The debate on raising the minimum wage has been discussed in detail in Congress for the past eighteen months. But as of late, writer William Finnegan suggests, it is â€Å"among the many urgent issues that it [Congress] certainly won’t address.† Though this issue is important, Congress seems to be putting off making any real decision in regards to raising the minimum wage. The bill to raise minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10 and hour over a two year period had been thrown around for monthsRead MoreThe Debate Of Raising Minimum Wage1910 Words   |  8 PagesDebate of Raising Minimum Wage Raising minimum wage has been an ongoing issue for many years. Similar to every debatable issue, pros and cons are inevitable. In the United States, minimum wage started when the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) was passed and minimum wage started at 25 cents per hour. The purpose of setting a minimum wage is to set a maximum workweek and to eliminate child labor. It is defined to be the least amount of money employers are obligated to pay their employees byRead MoreThe Minimum Wage Debate ( Hassett Strain )973 Words   |  4 Pagesthink about minimum wage and what our belief on raising it is, most people think one of two things. People hold to the belief that a raise to the minimum wage good for the economy or it is bad for the economy. The authors of â€Å"the minimum wage debate† (Hassett Strain, 2013) would attempt to have us look at the debate in another way. In their article they use a number of rhetorical techniques on us to try and have the reader examine why they are in favor of a raise in the minimum wage. Are we in favorRead MoreThe Debate Over The Federal Minimum Wage2149 Words   |  9 PagesOver the past few years the debate over the raise of the federal minimum wage of the current $7.25 has been argued by both sides, whether it should be raised or not. With both side, the affirmative and negative making strong arguments for their side. We will take a look at how each side frames their issues as how well their counterpart can refute those claims. The affirmative would like to propose the raise of the federal minimum wage to $12.00 by the year 2020; this is the standard that most statesRead MoreEssay on The Debate over Raising the Minimum Wage1502 Words   |  7 PagesThe federal minimum wage was raised to $7.25 an hour by Congress in 2009, something that has been carried out only a handful of times since the establishment of the wage in the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938. Even with this modest rise in income, the minimum wage today does not provide for a decent standard of living. It has failed to keep pace with the wage growth of an average American worker. The minimum wage was intended provide a minimum standard of living; to aid in alleviating povertyRead MoreEffects of Increasing Minimum Wage Essay988 Words   |  4 Pagesidea 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 on the advantagesRead MoreEffects of Increasing Minimum Wage794 Words   |  3 Pagesa federal minimum wage is a good one. The idea is to protect low and unskilled workers and allow 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. President Barack Obama made this proposal during his annual State of the Union Address, and after this there were many hot debates about it. The debates focused not only on the pro side and the con side of increasing the minimum wage, but also