Raising Minimum Wage

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the past few years, American citizens have been advocating a raise in minimum wage because the current amount they are making at minimum wage is not enough for them to live and survive on in this inflation-based world we live in now. As with any situation, there is always two sides to the argument, both of which believe they are right. On one side, Americans believe that raising minimum wage is the solution to their problem of not having an income large enough to support themselves and their families and will ultimately benefit the economy because citizens will have more money to spend and circulate in the economy. Still yet, other Americans believe that raising the minimum wage rate would negatively affect our economy, regardless of their …show more content…
Wihbey, J. (2015, October 19) found that the U.S. federal minimum wage was first established during the Depression, and it has risen from 25 cents to $7.25 per hour since it was first instituted in 1938 as part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The market has produced a great deal of these low paying jobs that require households to work a substantial amount to barely make ends meet. According to the 2014 Job Creation article, about 3 million workers with wages at or below the federal minimum made up 3.9 percent of all hourly paid workers. This many not seem like a large percentage, but this ever-growing employment sector still has an effect on our state and federal …show more content…
The federal economy sets a federal minimum wage rates that must be followed by all employees. This rate is the minimum amount each state’s businesses are allowed to pay their workers; however, states can choose to make this rate higher if they wish. For the federal economy to be prospering, it must have a proportional minimum wage to the current standards of living and price increases. State economies have the opportunity to set their own minimum wage rates, deciding when it needs to increase. Some states minimum wage automatically increase at the beginning of each year due to inflation. Characteristics of Minimum Wage Worker, 2014 (2015, April 1) article explained that the GS analysis found that the states where the minimum wage went up had faster employment growth than the states where the minimum wage remained at its 2013 level. This statement is an excellent example as to how minimum wage effects state economies and employment.
Figure 1. Percentage Change in Employment by State. This figure is the statistics from the end of 2013 to the beginning of
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