Raising the minimum wage is a debate that repeatedly arises in America. Upon the heels of President Barack Obama’s February State of the Union Address, raising the minimum wage in the United States is once again, a hot topic of conversation, especially in the White House.
President Obama’s propositions included one which, if accepted, would bump up the federal requirement for minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour. Polls show that a majority of Americans support this rise in the minimum wage, which is surprising, considering the economic effects that a change like this is capable of bringing forth – despite how small of an increase the couple dollar rise may seem at a first glance. Economic progression and mobility require new, more creative efforts to diminish what has been an ever-growing disparity between the wealthy and the poor in the United States of America. In the United States today, the wealthiest 1 percent of the entirety of Americans maintain a greater net worth than the bottom 90 percent combined. Also, according to Forbes, the 400 wealthiest Americans maintain more wealth than the bottom 150 million Americans combined, astonishingly.
Opinions do vary, however, in regards to how this change could actually shape out in reality, and if it would successfully help lift impoverished families out of the grips of poverty. Writers and economists have argued that this type of raise to the minimum wage could in fact be detrimental to employees and possibly even hurt the economy, due to the fact that employers may be put in positions such that have options to make stronger choices financially, at the sake of morality: hiring illegal immigrants rather than legal American citizens (A concept brought to light in a 1987 New York Times editorial, titled “The Right Minimum Wage: $0.00”), as well as hiring fewer employees, or simply transferring additional costs onto consumers and/or employees.
In all fairness, the economics surrounding a proposed minimum wage hike are quite complex and vary state to state in nature. There are pros and cons that result from this. The majority of the time, the arguments for and against minimum wage changes all together are presented through a solely political lens. Many point at the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor in America. Most Americans are simply trying to figure out how to survive from month to month, unfortunately, week to week for some. For many, the decision between buying food for your family and paying the electricity bill is a routine occurrence. If you don’t live in wealthy America, hearing that people actually live in this fashion may sound very strange to you. Exposure to luxury cars, the latest and most expensive electronic gadgets and above average homes, the notion that America is in the midst of a very serious “economic decline” seems bizarre, likely impossible, to some, the majority of them likely in wealthy America. Meanwhile, many Republicans argue that the minimum wage is intended as a temporary starting salary for young, inexperienced employees, the majority of them being students under the age of 24, who are given the option to achieve essential talents, leaving them with the chance to earn a natural progression by working themselves upward in their respective careers.
Both arguments present unique and respectable points of view, yet the minimum wage hike will hurt small businesses, which normally operate on razor thin budgets and whose owners typically are not on the higher end of the income scope.