Should the minimum wage be raised in the US?

Question

This is currently being debated here.

Should it? Why or why not?

Answer 1

I think it depends on the cost of living. Where I live, everything is expensive: more so than in most other states. If people can't survive on minimum wage, they will probably move elsewhere. Someone who is struggling to pay the rent, buy groceries, and pay for transportation, (or other necessities) can only go so long. It's bad for the economy if people are so busy trying to pay for the necessities that they don't get to spend on other things. (However, bear in mind that minimum wage does not equate to living wage.)

However, there are some downsides to even having a minimum wage.

You can see the pros and cons here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage
See the Cost and Benefits
(Supporters of the minimum wage...and
Opponents of the minimum wage)

Earned Income Tax Credit is interesting too (an alternative to minimum wage):
"Alternatively, in the United States, many economists see the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC, a wage subsidy) in the Federal income tax as providing the poverty-fighting benefits of the minimum wage without the non-budgetary costs, while being superior to most welfare state anti-poverty programs. One problem has been that many of the working poor (the target of this program) have a hard time with the tax forms needed to receive the EITC payment. There may also be long delays between when the money is needed and when the EITC payments are received. That is, a person might become eligible for the EITC in April but then get laid off for the rest of the year. But this person would not get help from the credit until nearly a year later (since Americans pay their taxes sometime between January and April). Further, like with the minimum wage, those people working at home taking care of children and other loved ones do not receive any benefits; only those doing paid labor are rewarded."

Answer 2

Yes it should. No one can actually live a reasonable life on minimum wage. But the republicans will just say that increasing minimum wage will just hurt the companies and make them increase product prices, thus not as many sales. When the fact is that these companies net worths are more than millions of dollars a year. For instance Beyond Patroleum has a NET WORTH in the billions.

Answer 3

The minimum wage should be raised. The cost of living goes up EVERY year-gas, groceries, clothing, housing. If there is absolutely no way a person could continue afford the necessities at steadily higher prices when the amount that they earn does not rise at the same rate that commodities do.

Answer 4

Absolutely not.. here is why..

let's say A is making minimu wage of $6.00 (assuming 6 is minum) and they want to raise it to $7.00 because the government want to

meanwhile B is making a little more, like $7.00 or $7.25 an hour.

By the way, the minimum wage is raised. Yes, A is now $7.00, do you think the companies will raise the rest of employees too??

Of course not. that means only A is benefit, not B or others.

Plus the inflation rate will go up if they do that....

Answer 5

Absolutely not it should not be raised. I agree with irman and dream doctor about not raising it eventhough dream doctor has the wrong reasons fairness. Life is not fair dream doctor i guess dreams can help. Why the US should not raise the minimum wage is that by raising minimum wage you raise the cost of labor for the firms operating at the minimum wage and by raising the cost of labor companies decrease employment and move to capital (machineries) in the long term. So by raising the minimum wage companies are forced to cut on employment and possible future projects that they had in mind to invest. By doing that you not only are creating more unemployment but also cutting on jobs that were going to be created in the future. So this decrease in future investments does not allow economic expansion. Thirdly this increase in minimum wages creates an incentive for the neighboring states that don’t have an increase or for foreigner countries like Mexico for example if it occurs in the whole US. So you get a lot of people from neighboring states or foreign countries who get paid less in their states coming into your state because they see this increase in wage as a good opportunity for them to make more money. It is reasonable for them to come where they get paid more. So you get a lot of migration added to your state as well, which means more unemployment and less jobs available. For all these reasons it is not wise to increase the minimum wage.
Oh by the way I forgot to mention outsourcing. By raising the minimum wage you raise the cost for the company and it could happen that US companies could move their operation overseas like in China and India because it is more profitable for them taking advantage of their cheap labor and huge population. By doing this there is less jobs available to US population and more unemployment in US

Answer 6

This would be rediculous....If we raised the minimum wage, all prices would go up causing inflation, causing employers who raised the minimum wage to cut back on their most costly expense ... wages ... and then they would let go the minimum wage earners. Raising the minimum wage would cause unemployment to those it is supposedly helping. Minimum wages are nothing but a political play-toy (Republican or Democrat) for politicians trying to show they care....it makes no good capitalistic economic sense.

Answer 7

Nope. Minimum wage hurts the ability of uneducated, unskilled people to make any living at all. If a person can produce enough to justify $5.00 an hour, they could work for $5.00 an hour. But under minimum wage, they can't work at all.

Answer 8

every time we raise minimum wage they just raise the cost of living. I think we should look at lower out cost of living to compensate for the pay. It's about surviving on the amount of money we make now how much. If we make rent and housing cheaper, gas, clothing... our money goes further. Just my opinion and I have lived through several raises. I first worked for 2.10 hr. lol:-)

Answer 9

It wouldn't matter to me

A raise in minimum wage is not enough to keep up with rising living costs/inflation, it is a slow process but sooner or later you'll be enslaved, I dare to say you already have.

Answer 10

It doesn't really matter but I think it should go up. The reason I say it doesn't matter is because if you begin to earn more yet the products and services you have to pay for go up also then what difference does it make.

It's great it's going up but companies are going to start cutting back on employees and giving them less hours to make up for it so it's not anything to cheer about just yet.