Should the United States Government raise minimum wage to keep up with the rising cost of living? Who would be the winners and the losers in the long run?
Use the above site to learn about the issues before responding. Be sure to consider both sides of the issue in preparing your response.
42 comments:
I finally got this thing working! Anyway, they should not raise the minimum wage. We watched the video where the man made minimum wage and he was not able live off of it. Though minimum wage was less back then, when minimum wage goes up, living conditions do as well. If everyone is making more money , companies paying their employees more money will raise the prices of their goods to make up for lost profits. Therefore everything we buy will be more expensive and at a lower supply. Changing minimum wage will not do anything!
You agknowledge that he was unable to survive, yet you say it should not be raised? Think about the purpose of having a minimum wage... to provide for at least a basic level of survival. Won't raising the minimum wage allow those people to at least be able to live at that level?
I believe the national minimum wage should be increased because those who work hard to survive should be paid fairly for their work. Our nation should be ashamed that they pay such low wages to those who work to keep themselves and their families above the poverty level. Right now too many Americans are working too hard, only to be rewarded with poor living conditions and without enough money to properly feed themselves. Some may argue that raising the minimum wage will only cause the price of other goods to rise at a similar rate, however, the prices of many necessities (gasoline, health care) are constantly going up anyway, and it is causing the workers to fall even deeper into debt. No one will lose out if the minimum wage is raised, workers will earn more for their hard work, and the country will be fulfilling their obligations to the American people.
I think that the minimum wage should be increased because from Morgan Spurlock's 30 days thing he proved that people can only barely survive on minimum wage if they get lucky. People with no other choice than to work jobs paying at minimum wage have to be able to get by and the current minimum wage doesn't allow that. The downside to raising minimum wage is the higher price floor for labor in the market. It will cause a surplus in labor: people will want more jobs than the companies are offering because the companies find they do not want to pay more for wages when producing the same amount and they may increase their prices in order to compensate. Nevertheless, I believe that the benefits outweigh the costs in this situation.
I believe that the government should raise minimum wage. About 10% of the workforce depends on minimum wage, and with the price right now it is nearly impossible to live off of minimum wage, especially trying to support a family. Increasing the minimum wage would actually bring it close to the standards in which other salaries have increased over the years. From 1997-2006, congress left the minimum wage without much thought, while prices continued to rise, thus dropping the real value of minimum wage 20%. Increasing minimum wage could also help decrease some of the poverty in America. This will help out some families on welfare and others that depend on minimum wage jobs. Also, teenagers such as myself will benefit as well because we will start at a higher salary. I think that in the long run we may lose because the prices of products and goods will gradually increase due to a higher salary payout and we will wind up in a similar situation.
The issue of minimum wage is not an easy one to take a stand on. On one side you can say that raising it will pay people more so that they can live better, healthier lives. This is good and it will allow more people to save up and maybe form a firm foundation of money, but there are also a few downsides. One such negative is the fact that companies will lay off more workers and hire less workers to make up for the fact that they have to pay more for each individual employee that they have. Another bad thing is that everyone who still has a job will probably have to increase the hours that they work because if there are less people employed, a company has to stretch the time chart to be able to have people always working at a store or branch. Many of us part time workers enjoy our 4-6 hour work days but imagine having to work 8-10? The same would happen for full time employees. Instead of 10-12 hours a day many would probably be required to work 13-15 or so. There is also the prediction that if minimum wage is raised then the prices of individual subsides will be raised. This will probably occur to again make up for the lesser profits being made from paying employees more. With this said it is hard to favor one side or the other. Since I have to choose a side I would pick in favor of raising it since that will raise my own personal pay check. However if i was to ever loose my job I doubt I would be on the same side I am on now...
I also feel that the minimum wage should be raised. While it may be possible to afford some form of shelter and an adequate amount of food on minimum wage, Morgan makes it clear to see that it is the unexpected events that really threw them off and put them in even more debt. Since there is obviously no way to avoid these events (such as the necessary hospital visits and the cab ride) they must not be punished for what they couldn't prevent. If anything, the hospitals should be straightening out what they charge to people in different financial situations to assure that everyone has the ability to get enough healthcare. Any increase in minimum wage is sure to help those who are working very hard just to survive.
Minimum wage has to increase. There is no reason why a minimum wage worker should have to worry about paying for the doctor or celebrating special occasions, it is simply impeding on people's pursuit of happiness. Why should minimum wage workers have to work extra hard to pay their taxes? Isn't the government supposed to serve the people, not the people serving the government? Yes, there will be losers in the long run, and those losers will be everyone. In the beginning the businesses will be suffering for having to pay hiring wages to its employees making minimum wages, while the workers will appreciate a burden being lifted off their shoulders when paying for the rising cost of living, but this will not stay the this way for long. The cost of living will rise soon again in which it will be increasingly hard to live on minimum wage, but that does not mean that the wage cannot be raised again and that people should have to scrounge and pinch pennies every second of the day. Even if the wage will not be raised again there are organizations that help poverty out that will keep on help those below the poverty line, but those organizations should not be the only ones helping and have all the burden of the poor.
I believe that we should raise the minimum wage. Even though that it is difficult to live on minimum wage, we have to keep the ability to be able to provide at least the basics for survival in the world. In the movie he was able to buy small amounts of food and clothing. Employers pay small wages already to these hard working individuals, who have to work hours at different jobs just to pay off their rent. The real winners would be these hard workers. They would finally be able to make a good enough paycheck to support their families. There wouldn't be any real loser since the workers of this country would be happy and help support the companies they work for.
I believe the minimum wage should be increased. The federal minimum wage was last raised in 1996 and according to the 2002 census a full time minimum wage worker makes just $10,712 per year, well below the poverty line for a family of three. As we also saw in the movie, Morgan Spurlock and his fiancée couldn’t even make it when it was only 2 of them, Morgan working above the minimum wage. The standard and cost of living has increased since 1997 whereas the unchanged minimum wage has now made it impossible for anyone to live working a minimum pay job.
Minimum wage should not be increased. An increase of $1.60 per hour would cost a small business with 10 workers over $30,000 per year. In order to compensate for increased pay roll, small businesses will lay off employees and increase prices. By increasing unemployment and raising prices, there will just be a greater number of people struggling to get by.
I htink minimum wage should be increased because it is impossiable for anyone to survive working a minimum wage job full-time. It isn't right that there are people in our country that work 9-5 job and still cant afford the cost of living. Minimum wage is meant to assure that people working jobs at this wage are able to live at a basic level,and it doesn's meet that expectation. There is no evidence of jobloss due to an increase in minmum wage and it benefits workers just above minimum wage because their wages are generally brought up also. Minimum wage workers need to be able to survive and provide for their families and because of minimum wage now they have no way of doing that.
.............continued from the earlier post.........
On the other hand I think the bigger business pay more of minimum wage than the small business because they don’t cover merely good benefits as the big business do so it wouldn’t greatly affect the small business where they have to shut down. But the cost of goods and services delivered by large business paying minimum wage could affect their cost i.e. retail business Wal-Mart and others like they. So overall we do have some negative aspects such as labor cut down and surplus of workers but I suppose that’s what the price flooring does. I don’t think there are total winners or losers here, someone might get a larger paycheck whereas another person might be loosing a job and the business small or big might be spending some extra money on the workers and these workers will be spending it on the goods the business produced.
Minimum wage is an important aspect of the workplace. however, i do not beleive that it should be increased at this time. what this article did not bring up is our current economic situation. I have witnessed first hand the troubles that many businesses are having to surrvive in this worlds economy. Many are not getting enough income to pay for supplies necessary to the surrvival of the business. if minimum is increased then businesses will have to pay more to the employees and that will result in less hours for the worker and hurt them more than the wage will help them. The study shown in the article says no loss of jobs, but it will likely result in less hours and less of an income for the worker.
I feel that they should raise the minimum wage because the cost of just getting your basic necesities has risen greatly. So to help eliviate some of the tension for lower class families through tough economic time.
Niko k
I think that the minimum wage should be increased. In most cases, it is impossible for one person to survive on minimum wage let alone a family. While job loss is an argument that people make against raising minimum wage, studies have shown that this is not an effect that will come from it. Raising the minimum wage will result in increased productivity, a decrease in absent workers, and better attitudes of the workers. The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation, and it has lost 20% of its purchasing power. We saw in the video that we watched a perfect example of how it is not possible to survive off of minimum wage. The minimum wage should definitely be raised to an amount that is at least possible to survive on.
So anyway yeah like i was saying i think that they should raise minimum wage. 13 million workers will receive an increase in their hourly pay when the minimum wage increases. This will be a big help to families who have an average minimum wage worker bringing home most of their income. Since 1997, the cost of living has risen 32%, but the minimum wage has fallen in real value. The minimum wage should be adjusted to the times that we are living in. Families should be able to afford medical care, but with the current minimum wage, it is almost impossible to have extra money for anything. Raising the minimum wage would be more helpful than it would be harmful to our society. Overall, it might help to decrease poverty.
I believe that minimum wage should be increased for a few distinct reasons. One is that it makes plain sense to because there are many people in this country who are forced to live off minimum wage and they would defiantly benefit from an increase. These people are certainly not lazy and are not begging for government hand-outs but rather are just asking for some assistance from the government to have the money necessary to get them through their basic expenses.
The evidence clearly supports the notion that minimum wage will only have positive effects on people who live and work at this level. Studies have shown that there will be no job cuts because of a wage increase and may even increase the number of jobs available. This is not to say that I believe that raising minimum wage is the only way to help the people that must live in these circumstances. Raising minimum wage is only the first step in a series of approaches that must be taken in order to help our citizens. Another type of assistance that should be done which is more localized in nature is something called a living wage. What a living wage does is a state or local government decides what amount of money is required to live in a certain area such as Suffolk County and then sets minimum wages based on this information. This ensures that people can actually live in an area rather than the federal government just trying to assess what will sustain people across the entire United States. People will not not have to worry as much about just making ends meet so that they can stay in their homes and pay their expenses as the local and state governments who know of and understand their situations best will be setting wage rates.
I firmly believe that minimum wage should be raised. The one main reason why I believe it should be raised is the increased standard of living. Inflation is a word that’s been thrown around a lot lately, and it certainly has hit our markets hard. This inflation “eats” at our buying power in 2005 the inflation eroded the buying power of people with minimum wage by 17% (stated by the EPI)! Now imagine if 17% of your income was taken from you… how would you feel? Some can argue that the minimum wage has gone up since 05’ but the reason why having the minimum wage at 7.25 isn’t enough is because it hasn’t affected enough people. According to table 3A in Mr. Karmin’s web source, only 4.1% were directly affected by the raise. In all honesty, I don’t think affecting 4.1% of our population will do much damage control… This is the reason why I feel minimum wage needs to be raised.
The minimum wage should be raised. Most states already have higher minimum wages than is required by the federal government, so the government is obviously lagging behind. By raising the minimum wage, many people would be see great benefits, while corporations would not be affected as much as some critics say. Studies have shown that minimum wage does not result in that many job cuts and if you compare minimum wage to inflation to get its 'real' value, it is much lower than it has been in many years, and needs to be adjusted to compensate for the high inflation and low dollar value we have seen recently.
I think that minimum wage should not be increased because if minimum wage increases so does the cost of living, which would make it arduous for people earning minimum wage to get by. Also raising minimum wage would cause employers to increase their costs. Therefore employers would have to increase the price of their product to pass the extra cost to the consumers.
The minimum wage should be in fact a dynamic value called the “Living Wage” as former U.S. Senator Mike Gravel has referred to it as. Setting a wage level that is static is merely restricting people's lives with a (wage value) number meaningless to people twenty or so years away. For instance, the minimum wage of $0.25 per hour during 1938 has as much value to people as to picking any number at random and declaring that the minimum wage. It has to be taken into account that our society is a changing society with increases in inflation rates and other such economic shifts that mostly increase the minimum amount required to survive. These are the very factors that should influence our minimum wage. This is evident in Morgan Spurlock's film as he attempts to live on the minimum wage and is hanging fragile, not wanting unexpected expenses, living paycheck to paycheck.
There was an EPI study done in 1998 that failed to find any resulting job loss from a minimum wage increase as theoretical economics suggest. For this applied reason, minimum wage should not be subjected to a restriction on increase. This is mainly the reason most skeptics use against a minimum wage increase. The minimum wage should be set to increase automatically overtime set by a mathematical budget formula that models the essential budget for certain people in a certain area. However, Congress should still be given power to make modifications to this dynamic living wage if deemed necessary. To emphasize a point, a system of regional dynamic living wages should be set- since not all regions of the United States require the same amount of money to live. This living wage would also be essentially helpful to the vast 10% foundation of our working class citizens as to keep them away from struggling in our present day economy. Dynamic living wages should, however, not be a source of wasteful spending, but only allocated to necessities.
I think we should raise minimum wage because the long term effects of this move outweigh the short term consequences by a lot. If the government can increase the minimum wage rate, then more families have the opportunity to break out of the poverty cycle and children that barely live by the poverty line, or even below it, can have the opportunity to afford college tuition and schooling. Once we see a trend in more financially challenged children attending school and graduating successfully, it can be safely estimated that social mobility for them is smoother, and as a result, we'll see more poorer families rising out of the slums into households that can flourish. When that happens, not only living standards will increase, but less people will rely on minimum wage to get by, and the government can then lower the minimum wage because the "demand" for living off of it will not be as great as before.
I hope I make sense. It's all about increasing minimum wage so that poorer kids can receive a successful education, rise through the classes, and break out of the poverty cycle. This, in turn, will decrease poverty levels in America, and when that happens, not many people will survive off of minimum wage anymore. The government can react to the decreasing "demand" of living off of minimum wage by lowering its rate, and thus, all is well.
Minimum wage should be increased, because the current wage is leaving people living in less-than-standard conditions. Those who work for minimum wage often have to support families, with one analysis showing that the average minimum wage worker brings home more than half of his or her family’s earnings. We need to look out for this little guy – but some would argue that in the long run, a minimum wage increase may discourage big businesses from employing Americans, and cause them to search for work abroad. However, a 1998 EPI failed to find any reliable, significant job loss with the 1996-97 minimum wage increase. The conditions of the worker will increase, and big business will be mostly unaffected, as demonstrated by their past unwillingness to decrease American employment.
I believe that the minium wage should not be raised. Yes, the cost of living has increased over the last few years, but the unemployment that would be created by this raise is really not worth it. Also, if we raise the minium wage and companies decide to not fire anyone but just simply raise teh price of goods, then the cost of living will just simply be even higher and the raise in minium wage will have accomplished nothing
Minimum wage should undoubtedly be raised. The cost of living has gone way up in recent history, and minimum wage has not gone up enough to compensate for this big increase in expenditure. The point of minimum wage is to be able to work on that wage and be able to live off of it, and with the current minimum wage, that is nearly impossible, especially if you have a family. The winners of the increase in minimum wage would of course be the workers who will be paid more. The losers on the other hand are the businesses, unemployed, and the general public. Businesses will have to pay more to get the same production, and thus will have to raise prices to compensate for the losses. This in turn makes the same product cost more for consumers to purchase. The unemployed would also suffer because there would be a lot more people willing to work for the new increased wage, so there would be a lot less people without jobs.
I do not think that the federal government should raise the minimum wage because this would only call for business participating in more outsourcing. This would also result in lay-offs because businesses wouldn't want to pay more per employee. Ultimately the winner of a raise of minimum wage are the few people that still hold their job with the new raise. The loser would be everyone else, the business, the public, and anyone applying for a job because it would make it that much harder for people to get a job. I think to cope with the rising standard of living, people just have to cut back on luxury's they wouldn't normally purchase or take part in. As seen from the 30day trial thing by that Morgan guy, he was able to live but things got harder once he had more dependents, so to cope with this problem people should think longer and harder before they decide to raise a family. That is how i feel i could be wrong, but i think raising the federal minimum wage would only result in more chaos as the government tries to play more of a role in the businesses and how they run them.
I feel like a broken record responding to this post but basically I agree with what everyone else has and believe the minimum wage should be raised. It would be hard for companies to adjust to at first, but even raising it a little could make the world of a difference to the many of families around the country struggling to make ends meet. Raising minimum wage would be the first step our country could take to ending poverty in the nation, and instead of concentrating on funding wars, we should concentrate the money on bettering our nation first. Sorry this is late!
I believe that the minimum wage should be raised in order to keep up with the higher cost of standard living that we all need to keep up with today in order to make it by with our daily necessities and monthly expenses. The minimum wage has simply been set too low in the past and hasn't been raised significant or often enough in order to keep up with the monetary demands that each person faces. Even when a parent makes the minimum wage and has access to food stamps that's factored into the total income, families still find themselves below the poverty line by a thousand dollars or more. A significantly higher minimum wage around $9 or $10 could bring millions of Americans out of poverty. There are also drawbacks to raising the minimum wage in that companies will have to pay more to their employees incomes which means that they will have to raise the price of the goods that they sell. However, If we have more people wanting jobs because of the higher wage they can make and know that they will live decently, then that will lower the unemployment rate and create a surplus of jobs. The only problem with that is that companies may not have the money to delve out the increased money for the new minimum wage. Still, I believe we will have to raise the minimum wage in order to help millions of Americans who struggle with the current standard of living which costs a lot more money than it did twenty to thirty years ago.
Although it is true that incease of minimum wage would lessen the supply curve and thus cause the rise of price of goods (and services), the increased minimum wage should be essential. As the movie that we shared in the class shows, the minimum wage only provides minimum, or less than that, of the quality of life. Also, while the decline of minimum wage may discourage supply as I aforementioned, it will encourage the demand of consumers, which will bring up the economics. Consequently, the raise of minimum wage is essential; however, how much would be the remaining problem that we should find answer.
I believe that the minimum wage should be raised because it would take a great deal of stress out of the lives of those people who work for minimum wage. As seen in Morgan Spurlock’s “30 Days” experiment, it is nearly impossible to live a comfortable life while earning minimum wage. Those who live off this ridiculously low salary are forced to survive with the bare minimum of resources and in many cases are unable to properly care for themselves and the people around them. Although people claim that raising minimum wage will lead to higher levels of unemployment, I do not agree. Companies will not be able to continue without a certain number of workers, and so it is unrealistic to say that they will lay off huge numbers of workers. Some people will unfortunately be released, but I, along with many others, do not feel that this number will be as large as some have predicted. The fact of the matter is, no matter what the result is, minimum wage has to be raised. If this move is delayed any longer, it will only hurt the people of our nation and further hurt our nation’s economy.
I really think minimum wage should be raised. 10% of the work force is earning minimum wage, which is barely enough to get by from day to day. I think it's terrible that some people who are doing all that they can to earn money can hardly afford to live. Minimum wage should at least provide people with enough money to meet their basic needs. As the value of a dollar has become less because of inflation, minimum wage has remained the same and not been scaled with the change in inflation. So people can afford even less today with the same minimum wage since the current minimum wage is outdated. Also, there has been no evidence of people losing their jobs because of previous minimum wage increases.
I believe that minimum wage should be raised. What is the point of a minimum wage at all if a hard working American citizen can not live off of it. People do not realize how tough it is to live off of minimum wage and how many different costs of living there are. There is enough wealth in this country so people do not have to struggle like that guy in the movie. If simply raising minimum wage slightly led to a better life for millions of people, then why be against it. People should not have to struggle the way they are, life in America should not be a struggle with the amount of wealth this country has. Raising minimum wage could be a small step to making living conditions better in our country.
I say minimum wage should be increased. It is nearly possible for someone to live on minimum wage and there are many people who only make that amount. Prices of goods went up so why not minimum wage? yup yup.
I believe minimum wage should be increased so those who work hard can survive with the basic needs. They do more physical labor than most business men and they dont get paid as much, which i see as unfair. If it was incresed there would be less poor people since the ones who do work at the moment would be getting paid more and could afford to survive. Also, it is getting harder to afford things because prices have risen a lot over the years. There is a higher living expense so there should be a higher minimum wage to have a chance to survive in today's society. However, small businesses may not be able to afford an increase in wages and still keep the same number of employees so some people may get laid off. In the end, the businesses would be the losers in this since they would have to pay more to get the same amount of work done. The winners would be the ones working who would be paid more and be able to afford more items.
Minimum wage should be increased because over the years the cost of standard living has increased, and the government had not increased the minimum wage from 1997-2006. An increase in minimum wage will create better living conditions for many Americans, and will contribute to decreasing poverty in America. Also many people not only have to support themselves on minimum wage, but also a family. As shown in Morgan Spurlock's "30 days", it is difficult, if not impossible, to live comfortably on minimum wage for 2 people living on 2 minimum wage salaries. Now add children to that, and it is pretty much impossible to live happily. Although there are negatives to increasing minimum wage, such as a decrease in employment, I still believe the positives outnumber the negatives and it should be raised.
Living in a upper middle class area, such as Smithtown, it is difficult to see the effects of minimum wage and make a decision on whether or not we should raise or maintain the current minimum wage, as it effects very few of us outside of our weekend jobs we work merely to have a little spending money. As we observed in Morgan Spurlock's "30 Days on Minimum Wage" episode, even working for slightly more than minimum wage is next to impossible. In the episode, unexpected trips to the emergency room were detrimental set backs to Morgan and his fiancee's goal of living on minimum wage. If anyone working on minimum wage has to go to the hospital or has a serious financial expense they can quite literally no longer survive. These people go into debt which they can never escape due to interest rates raising the amount they owe while their wages cannot cover the payments. As inflation has raised the standard of living over the past nine years, minimum wage has remained untouched. If we raise minimum wage, more people living in poverty will have improved standards of living and will be able to afford more and have better lifestyles in general. The downside to raising the minimum wage is that the price floor will rise, causing a greater number of jobs being demanded than the number of jobs being supplied. This may result in increased unemployment. Also, as companies have to pay their employees more, the cost of goods and services will most likely rise, therefore making the new minimum wage ineffective as inflation will more or less cancel out its positive effects. I still believe that minimum wage should be raised to assist those that can only work minimum wage jobs, as it can assist them escape poverty and welfare and live better lives. However, when the minimum wage is raised, many will feel the negative effects. The government needs to seriously consider both positive and negative consequences of raising the minimum wage before they act on the decision.
I think minimum wage should be raised. Although i was first hesitant because of the unemployment and layoffs that an increase would cause, but there is actually no evidence that the layoffs would happen. In the past an increase in minimum wage hasn't changed the unemployment rates, because most companies find that their employees are more productive and the expense evens out. Not only a raise in productivity but also a raise in living standards and an allowance of single parents and parents to support their children and themselves on a minimum wage living. It increases benefits and also raises the regular salary of non minimum wage earners increasing the wealth of the country as a whole.
kim o
I think minimum wage should be raised. Although i was first hesitant because of the unemployment and layoffs that an increase would cause, but there is actually no evidence that the layoffs would happen. In the past an increase in minimum wage hasn't changed the unemployment rates, because most companies find that their employees are more productive and the expense evens out. Not only a raise in productivity but also a raise in living standards and an allowance of single parents and parents to support their children and themselves on a minimum wage living. It increases benefits and also raises the regular salary of non minimum wage earners increasing the wealth of the country as a whole.
yeah got my account!! haha anyway, I think that the minimum wage should be increased. In effect I do realize this will decrease profit for big and small business and decrease the amount of jobs available. On the other hand, who wants a those jobs that are not able to provide hard-working americans with basic standards of living. Morgans 30 day special really opened my eyes to just how hard it is to make it, so i believe anyone who works hard in america deserves to be able to live. The standard of living in the united states ha increased yet minimum wage has not, atleast not proportionally. To think that the government just gave over 700 billion dollars to rich greedy businessmen on wall street but do not have the money to "bail out" hard working american that cant even live life is sickening. What is the motivation for a low wage worker to work when he or she knows their life will be miserable. Maybe if their wage was a bit higher they would increase productivity for their employees. Many conservatives would call that a liberal Ted Kennedy idea but to me it just makes sense.
This is really late sorry! I think that minimum wage should be raised because it is not adequete with today's standard of living. People have to work an exceptional amount of hours just to make ends meet, which in turn takes away from raising their families. Single parents are hit extremely hard by a low minimum wage and are forced into a cycle of debt. If minimum wage was raised, people could devote more time to their families and perhaps education to get a better job.
We shouldn't increase the minimum wage. Despite "benefiting" the working class, it provides an adverse effect on the economy. Small businesses will have to increase their prices in order to profit or they will have to lay off workers. If they increase prices, the business might lose business since people could probably find a substitute good cheaper at a Costco or some other big store. And in the case of bigger corporations, they might outsource to dodge the minimum wage increase, which hurts the American worker.
Post a Comment