The Minimum Wage Debate - 1637 Words

The minimum wage debate brings about a range of reactions from different people. There are those who 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 federal minimum. President Obama, in his first state of the union address of his second term proposed â€Å"Tonight, let’s declare that, in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour† (The White House 2013). A year later, he has revised that number to $10.10 per hour after signing an executive order that has already raised the minimum wage for federal workers to that number. (The White House 2014). With more and more states raising their own minimum wage, a minimum wage increase seems almost imminent with Democrats and Republicans getting closer to a deal. (Bolton 2014). But we are more interested in the efficiency of a minimum wage implemented at the federal level. The main question that surrounds this debate is whether this price floor in labor markets is efficient given that the stated goal of the minimum wage is to make sure full-time workers earn a living wage and are above the poverty line.Show 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 wor kers have ability to support themselves. In the past nine years, according to Bureau of Labor StatisticsRead 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 hasRead 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 spo tlight 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