Minimum Wage Dbq

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Minimum wage is the lowest possible amount of money someone can be paid at an hourly rate. Currently the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, but it does vary state to state, with the highest being $16.28 and the lowest being $5.15 plus tips. This Federal minimum wage has not been raised since 2009, over 15 years ago. The inflation rate since then has been 42.98% and 7.25. It is now worth about $10.37. So the question is, should the Federal minimum wage be increased? Yes, we should raise the minimum wage, because it lowers poverty, it encourages businesses to stick with workers longer and to not fire them so quickly, and it can make people buy and spend more money, therefore increasing commerce. One way that increasing the federal minimum …show more content…
“The impact of the minimum wage on the economy is a complex issue. Supporters argue that increasing the minimum wage can stimulate consumer spending and boost the overall economy by putting more money in the hands of low-wage workers. Critics, on the other hand, warn that higher labor costs might lead to job cuts, automation, and increased prices for goods and services.”(Document E) Of course, with more and more money the people get, the more they’ll spend. I know if I got 10% more money then I would probably spend 6%-8% more. And I know this is the same for almost everyone, so even though prices will be higher we will spend more. Spending money makes everyone happy, the customer is happy and satisfied, and the seller is happy with the money. If people have more money, then both sides will become more and more happy. I know I would certainly be happy. This connects back because if the minimum wage is increased then more people will have this higher amount of money and it will increase commerce. This is my final reason why increasing the minimum wage will be beneficial, but there are many, many more reasons to. Many people may say that increasing the federal minimum wage causes job losses. “This is where the pioneering work of natural experiments like the ones Card and Krueger have used over the years to study the effects of raising the minimum wage and other policy changes comes in. It began with their 1994 paper, but they’ve replicated the findings with other studies that have deepened the amount of data that shows the original theory about the minimum wage causing job losses”(Document B). This claim is actually wrong, with more recent studies we've learned that minimum wage does not kill the job market, and the more recent study does say that the old 1994 claim is wrong. “The amount of data that shows the