Increase in Minimum Wage

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Unemployment happens when human beings cannot find jobs, have some sort of immobility, or they just do not want to work (Economicshelp.org). But if the economy is rising so does employment opportunities. Unemployed workers are attracted to jobs that pay a lot. That is the first thing they notice when they start to apply for a job. The book called Contemporary American Social Issues talks about how raising the minimum wage helps the workers but not the employer. It states, “A minimum wage can increase employment if an employer is a monopsony. A monopsony is a situation where there is only one employer in a labor market. More generally, any employer who has to pay increasingly higher wages as he or she hires more workers is a monopsony” (Wessels 231). Walter Wessels, the author of this book, is trying to explain that if he or she gives a worker ten dollars to start with and then hires another worker and gives them eleven dollars, then the employer has to even out the minimum wage to twelve dollars an hour. The employer has to give more because unequal wages is a wage crime. If the worker is not working for a salary then he or she needs to get paid equally (Palmer). Therefore when the minimum wage increases, more people are willing to work. This will reduce unemployment and help the economy. There are people who argue and say that if companies are giving a lot then students will drop out of college or high school just to work. They will stop their education for money. This has been a major problem in the dispute for raising the minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wage may cause students to drop out of high school, because teenagers nowadays are attracted to money. They want all the money in the world. Teens do not pay attention to their education but do pay attention to jobs with a high pay. This causes an increase of dropouts. In the book called, The Economics of Inequality, Poverty, and Discrimination in the 21st Century, there was a chapter called Do Minimum Wages Help Fight Poverty? In this chapter it said, “ The estimates indicate that adults exposed to minimum wages as teens or young adults have lower wages and lower earnings, providing evidence that the net effects of reduction in training, experience, and schooling persist to disadvantaged workers who were exposed to higher minimum wages when young” (Neumark 339). Newmark is trying to say that there are jobs out there that are giving a higher minimum wage for work that is easier than other companies. Young adults are finding these type of jobs and are dropping out of school just because that company is giving them fifteen dollars an hour. Education should be everyone's top priority before anything else. It is not something that someone can forget about. The topic, minimum wage, should be a huge deal for families in poverty or in the lower to middle class. Teenagers should focus on their school work. Raising the minimum wage will help families in poverty live a acceptable lifestyle; for example they will be able to buy new clothes, food, gas etc.

Another point why raising the minimum wage is not a good idea is because of inflation. People believe that when the minimum wage rises, so does the price for everything else. This is not always the case. The United States Department of Labor states that, “ An increase in the federal minimum wage requires approval by Congress and the president. However, in his call to gradually increase the current federal minimum, President Obama has also called for it to adjust automatically with inflation. Eliminating the requirement of formal congressional action would likely reduce the amount of time between increases, and better help low-income families keep up with rising prices” (Department of Labor). So as prices go up, the minimum wage goes up; as prices go down, minimum wage stays the same. President Obama is trying to help families in need live a better lifestyle. Inflation does not hurt minimum wage workers; it helps them. At the end of the day, raising the minimum wage will be a great investment for the United States.

Minimum wage should be raised, because it helps families get out of poverty, it helps the economy, and it helps decrease unemployment. There will be people out there that hate this idea, but there are more pros than cons. Raising the minimum wage will help the economy by families having money left over to spend. More people would want to work so this helps with employment. Families with bad credit will be able to buy things that they need or people who can not pay their bills will be able to when minimum wage increases. Minimum wage should be raised without any argument, because college expenses and life expenses add up. Balancing school and work is difficult, but if a student does not have money then how would he or she pay for school. A way that this problem can get resolved is to start a petition. Get multiple signatures on that petition and get a state representative to sponsor the idea of raising the minimum wage to at least twelve dollars an hour. Then the petition moves on to the senate if a certain committee approves it. Then the house of senates approves it and it finally makes it to the president. If this idea was done today, then President Obama would accept it or deny it. Most likely it will get approved. A lot of people will benefit from this idea. Increasing the minimum wage will not only help families in poverty but it will help the economy as well.

Collins, Denis. "Minimum Wage." Encyclopedia of Business Ethics and Society. Ed. Robert W. Kolb. Vol. 5. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2008. 1389-1390. SAGE Knowledge. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

Neumark, David. "Do Minimum Wages Help Fight Poverty?" The Economics of Inequality, Poverty, and Discrimination in the 21st Century. Ed. Robert S. Rycroft. Vol. 2: Solutions. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2013. [323]-342. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Apr. 2016.

Power, Marilyn. "Minimum Wage." The Elgar Companion to Feminist Economics. Eds. Janice Peterson and Margaret Lewis. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2004. Credo Reference. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

Palmer, Scott. "Wage Crimes." Encyclopedia of White-Collar & Corporate Crime. Ed. Lawrence M. Salinger,. Vol. 2. Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications, Inc., 2005. 850-851. SAGE Knowledge. Web. 12 May. 2016.

“Minimum Wage.” Everyday Finance: Economics, Personal Money Management, and Entrepreneurship. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 283-286. Gale Virtual Reference Libarary. Web. 25 Apr. 2016.

WESSELS, WALTER J. "Minimum Wage." Encyclopedia of Contemporary American Social Issues. Ed. Michael Shally-Jensen. Vol. 1: Business and Economy. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2011. 229-234. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 12 May