Kaylin's
article is about why we should not raise the minimum wage and reasons why. She
uses three articles to back up her stance. One of the articles: The
Case Against The Minimum Wage by Daniel Bier talks about how
economists agree that we should not raise the minimum, and then goes on to give
examples on what would happen if we did raise the minimum. In the second
article, titled The pros and cons of raising the minimum wage, by
Chad Halvorson, talks about how raising the minimum wage will have more down
sides than up. And last, but not least, the third article, 9 Reasons
Why Raising the Minimum Wage Is a Terrible Idea; It's time for economic facts,
not Fallacies, by Ira Stoll states how the minimum wage should be
different in each state, and not have the federal government change the minimum
wage.
Topic: Minimum Wage Effects on Employment Opportunities
Jennifer's
article is about increasing minimum wage and its negative effects on employment
opportunities. The article "Negative Effects of Minimum Wage" by
Chris Edwards covers two reasons as to why raising the minimum wage would
negatively effect employment opportunities in our country. Edwards explains
each point in detail in order to support his argument.
Topic: By Comparison
Thelma’s article focuses on the
comparison of minimum wage between developed countries, Australia, in
particular. Alanna Petroff, the author of the article This country has
the best minimum wage in the world on CNN, does a quick debrief as to
how Australian workers are living well from an economic standpoint.
Topic: Need a Change in Lives of Low Wage Workers
Devanshi's
article focuses on answering questions on why minimum wage should be raise and
how low workers lives suffers from minimum wage. Peter Van Buren gives an quick
view on where and how minimum wage is troubling workers through his article,
"You Can't Earn Living on Minimum Wage."
Topic: The Effects of the
Minimum Wage and Other Public Policies on High School Graduation Katelyn Kowald;
Presently with the recent constant rise of cost in Higher Education, the
enrollment levels have slowly decreased for high school graduates, etc.
People are choosing to go straight into the workforce right after high
school because they can’t afford to continue their education.
Unfortunately most these individuals will be lucky to earn anything more
than minimum at their starting jobs with their lack of experience and college
education. This all seem problematic because people are in a way find
themselves with very few opportunities of obtaining a better paying job, or the
means to afford a college degree. Finding a way to raise entry level pay
(minimum wage) and facilitating the opportunity of obtaining additional
education for the common workforce, would slowly but surely in many ways help
those who struggle financially in our society today.
Summary:
Should we
raise minimum wage so fast food employee's make $15 an hour? Should we raise it
so that the single mother can make ends meet and still have time with her
kids? Or should we not raise the minimum wage because, why pay someone a higher
minimum if they do the minimum work, minimum effort, and minimum education.Minimum
wage is a big debate, especially since Americans love their money.Many
questions are left unanswered leaving us dazed. Follow along as Kaylin,
Thelma, Jennifer, Devanshi, and Katelyn take on the roles of discovering
and pointing
out issues on whether or not minimum wage should be raised or just stay
the
same.
Katelyn Kowald
The issue that I am going to speak with you today is raising minimum wage. My personal take on raising minimum wage is that we shouldn’t raise it, because I feel like it lowers kid’s ambition to get a higher education and lowers their ambition to get graduate from high school. This article I found on Wellesley College Digital Scholarship and Archives written by Anna Morris that is over ‘The Effects of the Minimum Wage and Other Public Policies on High School Graduation.’ First I am going to talk to you about the facts I found on this topic and how it correlates to what I think and then I am going to give you a scenario.
One thing stated in this article that really stuck out to me was the fact that the United States spends a lot of money on higher education, in fact we spend more money than any other country on education. Now with that being said, we spend more money than other countries but our high school graduation rate is lacking compared to other counties. “In 2009, the U.S. ranked twenty-one among OECD countries (Morris, 4).” Why is it lacking, I think it is lacking due to minimum wage steadily increasing. “Facing lower earnings in the labor market makes students less likely to leave school to apply for such a job (Morris, 5).” Basically the lower minimum wage is the lower chance that a high school student would drop out to join the work force and a lower chance a high school graduate would continue education to better themselves if minimum wage is too low to support themselves on their own.
If you were able to receive a pretty good amount of money an hour working at McDonalds flipping burgers, let’s say fifteen dollars an hour, then why would you go to the trouble to go to college? People go to college to get a ‘better job’ and make ‘better money,’ but they actually end up getting themselves in debt because of how much school costs these days. If you could make enough money to cover your living expenses and you could take care of yourself with the money you make from that work place then you would not go to the trouble to get your higher education, because you wouldn’t need to go to college, it would just take more effort.
In conclusion, students need to have something to look forward to in life, meaning having a professional job, making good money and putting in the effort to get there. We need to recognize things that are hurting our younger generation’s ambition in this world and fix it. Raising the minimum wage is not going to help these kids see that they need to work hard and study to get where they want to be.
Minimum wage debate poses many questions in
many areas and sounds like a confusing topic. Only simple way to find
conclusion is to raise minimum wage. Raising minimum wage does not have to be raise
to $15. There are many aspects to be noted while rising minimum wage. For
example, will the full time workers earn more than poverty line is decided per
federal government? Today’s blog will be discussing why and how minimum wage
should be raised.
In
article “You Can’t Earn Living on Minimum Wage”, by Peter Van Buren, clearly
states that there is need to be raise in minimum wage because of the expenses
of the workers. He implies that, “a rise in the
minimum wage is only half the battle; employees need enough hours of work to
make a living.” On his take on hours cutting is that employees aren’t given
full 40 hours week. Employers are giving 39 hours to detached employees from
full employment benefits. At the end, it is resulting in
not getting paid enough to have dinner every night.
Can businesses afford to pay higher wage? It is clear
that small businesses aren’t able to pay higher wage. According to Buren, “Overall,60% of minimum-wage workers are employed by
businesses not officially considered "small" by government standards” which eliminates the question, can businesses afford to
pay higher wage? Buren supports by, “This is disingenuous indeed, since 20 mega-companies dominate the minimum-wage world. Walmart alone employs 1.4
million minimum-wageworkers; Yum Brands (Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC) is in second place; and McDonald's
takes third.
As a low wage worker, we should all be
able to see that these large companies are our source to increase our wage. These
companies find a loophole to be not involved, but they should be the one helping
to raise minimum wage. As stated in Buren’s article, Walmart’s workers our one
of the large group to use funding like food stamps, WIC cards and etc. It is obvious
that these workers are under poverty line.
Problems as serious as this should be priorities by our
government. This should be the eye opening time for our government to make
change in our system. A full time worker in wealthy country as ours is living
under the poverty line decided by our federal government portrays that we need
change in minimum wage. The following chart represents the annual earning of
full time worker paid minimum wage and where they stand at poverty line.
As mentioned
earlier, rising minimum wage doesn’t mean rising to $15. Federal government should
act on the new minimum wage standard where it will be benefiting everyone. If this not being
in consideration than they have to make sure that rents of the apartment, gas,
or any other things shouldn’t be raising prices. It is an impossible for a low
wage worker to pay their bills if everything boosting except their salary. Now
it is necessary for our country to raise minimum wage to an extent where our country
would be stable in all form and shape. Economic is not only for businesses, but
it should be for every type of workers. Credit:
Buren, Peter Van. "You Can't Earn a Living on
the Minimum Wage." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 16
Feb. 2016. Web. 02 Nov. 2016.
Jennifer Cortez Sometimes what you wanted is not
always what you expected. If you want minimum wage to increase to $15 an hour,
think again. An increase in minimum wage would theoretically benefit a working
person’s income, but there are other factors that need to be taken into
consideration before a nationwide decision is made. In today’s post, we will be
discussing the negative effects of increasing minimum wage on employment
opportunities.
In the article "Negative Effects of
Minimum Wage," Chris Edwards brings up two important reasons as to why
increasing the minimum wage to $15 would not benefit our country. Edwards’
first point states “minimum wages reduce the work available for low-skill
workers.” He supports his reasoning by asserting that employers will shift from
manual labor to mechanical labor. An example of this would be a store having
self check outs instead of cashiers because they are cheaper to maintain
financially. This will then lead to a decrease in hours and possibly lose of
occupation. Ultimately, the minimum wage increase will result “in a rise in
poverty among these households.” Based on statistics, minimum wage increase cut
employment opportunities for low-skilled workers. It is estimated that for
every 10% increase in the minimum wage, employment for low-skilled workers is
reduced by 1 to 3 percent. Majority of the states across the country have their
minimum wage set at $7.25 an hour. If increased to $15 an hour, that would be
about a 106% increase to their minimum meaning a multitude of jobs for
low-skilled workers would be lost nationwide. By incrementing the minimum wage,
we should be helping them financially not hurting them.
Edwards’ second point states, “minimum
wages do not alleviate poverty.” He supports his reasoning with the use of
Census data. Surprisingly, it was found that majority of workers who earn
between $7.25 and $10.10 per hour live in non-poor households. Out of all the
workers who would be affected by the minimum wage increase, only 13% of those
workers live in a poor household. Edwards also identified that “nearly
two-thirds [of minimum wage employees] live in households with incomes over
twice the poverty live, and over 40 percent live in households with incomes
over three times the poverty line.” Although a minimum wage raise would
financially benefit poor households, a not so drastic increase would be needed
since majority of minimum wage workers live in non-poor households.
I agree with both of Edwards’ reasons
as to why minimum wage should not be increased to $15 an hour. It is logical
that companies will begin to use mechanical labor instead of manual labor if
minimum wage is increased. A machine will not ask for $15 an hour, but a person
will. On top of that, other beneficiaries come into play that are necessary for
an employee that a machine does not require. If mechanical labor is not
installed and a company is required to pay their employees $15 an hour, they will
either need to reduce employee hours or lose a few workers in order to be able
to pay their current staff. If neither
route is taken, then prices will begin to increase in order to pay their employees
and still make some profit. This is important especially to small businesses
who do not have money laying around like big companies do to pay their workers.
On top of this, there will be less level-entry jobs for those first job
seekers, specifically teenagers, who have no work experience. Since jobs will
be required to pay their employees more, they are most likely going to go for
the person who knows what they are doing so they do not need to spend time training
them. This will then make it difficult for them to find a job leaving them
unemployed. As for the second reason, if majority of the minimum wage workers
are living in a non-poor household, then why is a such extreme minimum wage
increase needed? People assume increasing it so high will lift families
straight out of poverty, but they do not see those who will fall deeper into
poverty when they lose their jobs. In the end, it depends on the person and
their experience on whether they will keep their occupation or not. Overall, I believe raising the minimum
wage will not benefit poverty or our country. Even though it is a proposed
idea, realistically, it will only hurt us. We want to move forward as a
country, not take two steps back. As Edwards asserts, “such mandated increases do
more harm than good, and they hurt the exact groups of people that policymakers
say that they want to help.” Instead of helping, we are just creating an even
bigger problem that can be avoided by keeping minimum wage the same.
Here is a visual summarizing the points covered in the entry above. Works Cited
Boudreaux, Don. "Economics: Is Raising Minimum Wage A Bad Idea? - Learn Liberty," Youtube, uploaded by Learn Liberty, 14 January 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aCpaON5NyE. Edwards, Chris. "Negative Effects of Minimum Wage." Cato Institute, 8 Apr. 2016. Web. Accessed 28 Oct. 2016.
To truly comprehend the state of the average American worker, we must compare it to other developed countries, and the conditions they set on their citizens. It is easy to disregard the irregularity of one’s own country, if no outside perspective is sought. Although, the United States is home to the highest GDP in the world, it is outranked by several other countries in its minimum wage. That alone should spark, at the very least, a concern for the circulation of currency in the US.
In This country has the best minimum wage in the world, Alanna Petroff helps convey the differences between countries with a graph of the top ten national minimum wages in the world. The US is not a part of these top ten. However, the graph converts the currency to US dollars, for the sake of comprehension. Also, the publisher makes note of some leading countries who are not included in the graph despite being some of the higher ranking developed countries,
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland and Italy were not included in this OECD list because these nations do not have federal rules on minimum wages. However, many of these nations are known for paying relatively high wages because of the strength of worker unions. (Provided in Notes when the image is clicked)
Disregarding the advancements of other countries can only result in what I consider to be the fall in the American economy.
Raising the minimum wage does not necessarily have to be raised from $7.25 to a straight $15. I am aware that such a leap is too far of a leap, for many reasons. There needs to be consideration for those who are not for this change; there needs to be compromise. A steady growth towards the optimum wage for both the minimum wage worker, and the US economy, is what would be ideal.
We cannot chalk up inflation as the main reason to not raise the minimum wage. Any individual residing in the US can see, everything has gone up in terms of prices. From produce to utilities, overall expenses have gotten higher. It would make sense to adjust our wages in order to suit the increase in the price of living. You don’t buy yourself a decent laptop, keep it for a substantial amount of time, use it every day, and not update it. You want your laptop to run as efficiently as possible, right? Out of respect for our country, and its hard working residents, we need to come together and acknowledge that our minimum wage standard needs an update.
As for considering the living standard of minimum wage workers, it’s obvious that $7.25 is nowhere near enough to live comfortably, let alone get by. In comparison, Australian workers, have a more optimal lifestyle. Americans are strong believers in working for what you have, that is what we have made the American dream out to be. If you work hard enough, you should be able to get what you give. Working forty hour weeks should not result in poverty.
Our economy needs to be an economy that works for all. Easing the burden off of some, is ultimately going to ease the burden on all. If more receive a more livable wage, more money will be spent. More individuals will be able to put their money towards further education, thus leading to better jobs and better incomes, thus creating a better opportunity for growth in current Americans, and the future. Less individuals will need to rely on welfare, and food stamps, because of a better income for themselves, and their family. The endless possibilities of a better country outweigh the common misconceptions of a more debilitated America.
Even with a higher wage and public services, Australia is not doing as horrendous as one would think. The country has a growing economy, with some of the most open trading agreements, ideal working opportunities for all citizens. Not to say that America has to model the entirety of its government to that of Australia’s, but it’s easy to debunk most if not all stigmas against raising the minimum wage based off this prime example.
Minimum Wage has been a debate for the past couple of years.
People have many reasons why they think minimum wage should increase or stay
the same, but have they ever stopped and thought what the outcome would be? In
today's post, we will be looking at an economic standpoint on why we should not
increase minimum wage.
In the article 9 Reasons Why Raising the Minimum Wage
Is a Terrible Idea by Ira Stoll states facts and reasons why raising
the minimum wage is a bad idea on an economic point-of-view. Stoll's stance is
against raising minimum wage because, " It's a big country. The costs of
living, especially housing, vary widely in America from state to state and city
to city." Meaning the cost of living goes up and down in different areas
of America. I agree with this statement because, although, the united states are
a united country each individual state has a different way of adapting to life.
$15 dollars in Texas is a lot of money for the minimal worker, but $15 in New
York could be a good average because of their way if living. Therefore, the minimum wage should also vary from state-to-state. Stoll also says.
" twenty states already have higher wages than the federal minimum,"
therefore, why should we make the federal minimum raise if we can just petition
and ask the states to raise their minimum wage? He brings up a good point here. I never
thought of just having the states bump up their minimum to fit their needs. From my understanding and from what Stoll just said, I can safely say that minimum wage increase should not be a concern at federal level. If the federal wage is raised that will probably put more people in debt and out of a job because the economy can not support them. When the economy can not support the people, that is when we start to get in trouble and become a corrupt country. Jealousy will raise even higher for the people who do have money, and people will become even more stingy and do anything just to get a dollar.
When most people think of minimum wage they think of
teenagers working a part-time job. And that's what minimum wage should pay for; teenagers.
Stoll says, " A lot of minimum wage earners are second or third-job
holders in the household. This means, the teenagers who have jobs, have both
parents working. Minimum wage workers also include retirees with income from
savings and Social Security who own their homes mortgage free." To sum
that up, minimum wage workers are workers who are entry level, like teenagers,
or retired people who are living off their Social Security. I agree with Stolls
statement because in most restruants, yogurt shops, and stores like Target have teenagers working there. On the other hand, the adults who have to provide for their family don't get settle
for $7.25 an hour. If the sole provider does have a minimum wage job, I ensure you they are looking for another job to get paid at a higher rate that suits their budget
because they have motivation (a family) to earn more than the minimum. But, if the sole provider is not looking for more than a minimum wage job, one, these are probably the people who want to raise minimum wage so they won't have to get a higher education to move up the ladder in life, and two, there are more Millennial's and Gen Next generations who are stereotyped as "lazy" but have more ambition to find a higher paying job than the sole provider.
Moving on to how it will affect the economy, Stoll points out
three very important aspects. The first one would be, "raising the minimum
wage will eliminate jobs." I agree with this because, businesses would be
forced to pay a higher wage to the minimum level workers, therefore, there
would be a decreased need for entry level workers. The second point from Stoll
is, "Businesses will be likely to consider replacing workers with robots
or computers, as a long-term investment." If you think this is insane, think again. Machines have been replacing workers from day one. Think of the cotton picker, online banking, or even machine telemarketers. If the wage is increased business will have no choice but to replace the minimum workers ( entry level work) with machines. Another example is Europe, they already have machines that take orders to replace the workers, so
they could cut back on wage prices.
The last point Stoll mentioned was, "A minimum wage increase will reduce
the incentives for low-wage workers to get an education to move up to a
higher-paying job." This statement is probably the most important and accurate
because, today's generation of young workers, and even generations
below them are becoming lazy and just want the easy way in life. They will have no goals
or ambitions to even think about getting an education to increase there amount of income. They will literally work their 5-7 hour job, play video games, and sleep. In the long run this will not be economically stable because there will be less doctors, lawyers, and other professional workers to replace
the ones we have today. And this will lead to the $15 minimum wage workers to
make no wage because there is no suitable CEO, or boss man to run the business
in a declining economy. A good example of Stolls main point can be watched in
the video: The truth
about minimum wage .
In the article, The pros and cons of raising the
minimum wage, by Chad Halvorson also states why minimum wage should not be raised. Halvorson states, "Minimum wage increases will lead to
layoffs, price increases, fewer hiring’s, and outsourcing jobs.” These cons of
increasing the wage, will affect the economy greatly. When layoffs happen, it
leads to more unemployment, which was the whole reason why people wanted a wage
increase in the first place. And layoffs will happen because when “the same
number of employees are at a business and they are being paid at a higher rate,
business can no longer support that many workers.” (Halvorson) For an example, if the original cost of an apple is $1, when the minimum increases the apple price could move up to $4 because of
increased wages. Although the wages were increased, the company must make an
equity, therefore, the consumer pays difference. In simple terms, minimum wage
increases = price increases = consumers end up paying the difference.This will also lead to fewer hiring's because they will outsource to another country who they will be able to pay less. If you had the option to pay someone $5 or $15 which would you pick? In the end, the big picture of raising minimum wage will create fewer jobs for the people who the minimum wage was supposed to help.
In the last article, The Case Against the Minimum wage by Daniel Bier,
his economic point-of-view is simple, raising the minimum wage will lead to
unemployment. Bier says, “We will have a surplus of
workers (surplus meaning unemployment) from employers laying off their
employees, and it would be harder for young and unskilled workers to get entry
level jobs.” I agree with this statement because young workers are new and naive when they enter the work force. This is the whole reason for a minimum wage; the entry level workers receive the lower paying jobs so they can build relationships, knowledge and an understanding of how the work place really works. This is even true for me. When I first entered the work force at the age of 16, I was getting paid $7.25, but now, two years later, my wages have increased, and I have had an internship, which gives me experience, knowledge, and responsibilities that may lead to a higher wage in the future. Companies would want to hire people who already know what they are doing so they wouldn't have to spend time and money on a minimal worker to train them. Bier also states that, “workers may get a few weeks or months of
higher pay, only to be unable to get a job at all in the future, therefore,
their wages will drop to zero.” To expand on this statement, the people who are
already working may get higher wages, but when they get laid off, fired, or if
they even quit, they will have a difficult time entering the work force again
with the competing market for jobs. Increased wages lead to the employers,
“cutting back hours, laying off the least productive workers, hiring fewer new
inexperienced workers, replacing labor with robots, and replacing lower skilled
workers with fewer and higher skilled workers” according to Bier. I also agree with this statement because companies will want to spend their money sparingly, and only higher the top suitable employees, which does not include the least productive workers. Watch the video below for more information about how minimum wage works.
In the end, minimum wage should not be increased because it will cause the
economy to increase unemployment. Raised wages include layoffs, cut backs,
unemployment outsourcing, price increases, fewer hiring’s, and eliminates jobs.
According to Barrack Obama, he says “No one who works full-time should have to
live in poverty.” This statement is true to an extent, but most of the people getting
minimum wage are teenagers, and retired people, so this statement is not true.
If we do raise the minimum it will lead to a surplus of workers and higher
unemployment. The minimum wage should not be raised by the federal
government, because each state has a different standard of living. A
minimum wage is meant to help, not hurt the minimal workers, therefore, raising
the wage will do just the opposite. Raising it will make the companies
get rid of the minimal workers (teenagers) and find higher educational workers or
replace the workers with machines so they can get more bang for their
buck. Another outcome of raising the wage is raising the prices on goods
and services so the business will not go in debt. But as Americans are
know for, they like there money, and they like a lot of it. Raising the
price on goods and services will lead to less consumers buying products,
and this is a key aspect in keeping the economy going. Less buyers equals less products being bought, which equals a decline in money moving around the economy, which means the economy decline.
Works Cited
Ira-stoll. "9 Reasons Why Raising the Minimum Wage Is a
Terrible Idea." Reason.com. N.p., 03 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Bier, By Daniel. "The Case Against the Minimum
Wage." The Skeptical Libertarian. N.p., 25 Feb. 2013. Web. 25 Oct.
2016.
Halvorson, Chad. "The Pros and Cons of Raising the
Minimum Wage." When I Work. N.p., 06 Mar. 2014. Web. 25 Oct. 2016.
Age
vs. Minimum 
