Minimum was was originally passed to make the lowest wage (minimum) 50% of Union scale factory wages.
It was soon decided that this was too much so they revised it to be 100% of the poverty level. this was an amount that was deemed to be the bare subsistance level without government intervention. Poverty level was arrived at by determining a marketbasket of items ( ie; rent, utilities, food and clothing) that are considered bare minimum for a person to survive. That too was soon forgotten about as most union scale wages have not kept up. Poverty level for 1 person is now just over 17K a year and minimum wage is > 12K.
2006-12-09 08:32:59
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answer #1
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answered by Anarchy99 7
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Other than increasing the disposable incomes for low income households, there really is no benefit to minimum wages. There are several unintended consequences to an increase to minimum wages.
First, it reduces the demand for labour. An addition to minimum wage would, in a way, serve as an exise tax to the supply of labour, adding additional cost to labour. Should demand remain steady, the supply demanded would decrease. This would result in a decrease in the number employed, ergo, an increase of unemployment. Second, as disposable incomes increase for the few that still have jobs, so will the prices for the goods they buy. Prices are set based upon costs and the ability of consumers to pay.
All in all, this was what happened in the seventies. As incomes rise artificially on account of government intervention, the Misery Index increases and Stagflation occurs. So, if you thought that the rich got richer and the poor get poorer, then imagine the world I just described. Let the market set prices.
2006-12-09 08:52:14
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answer #2
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answered by kyleholloway 2
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The raising of minimum wage is part of the reason why things have become more expensive.
Companies have to raise their prices to pay the increased wages of their employees or they will have to lay people off. As a result, the increased pay of those receiving minimum wage means nothing since the prices for everything else has increased.
Plus, those employees that were already barely above minimum wage before the increase are now at minimum wage and will become disgruntled because they weren't given a cost of living increase when their co-workers received the new and improved minimum wage increase.
Economically, it really isn't as beneficial as people are led to believe and is actually more harmful since it's a leading factor in the rising inflation rates.
2006-12-09 08:32:04
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answer #3
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answered by Angie P. 6
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Sounds like you're trying to write a paper ... I'm not gonna write the thing for you, but here's a few ideas for your main points.
-- Everyone benefits from increasing the minimum wage because: when the minimum wage increases, general wages usually increase as well ... People working in minimum wage jobs are happier because they are making more money and do a better job, therefore the entire community benefits ... The unemployment rates go down because people are more likely to seek out jobs where they can be paid a decent amount of money.
--Most people who are only making minimum wage now are involved in a lot of government programs; like Medicaid, food stamps, etc., in order to support their families. Students living in poor families generally do not have the resources at home to preform highly at school, therefore they are not eligible for scholarships and their families can not afford to pay for tuition. Therefore, they have no training or higher education and must work minimum wage jobs themselves ... and so on and so on.
Hope that some of this helps.
2006-12-09 08:31:38
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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Frankly, I believe that there are no real advantages to raising the minimum wage. The minumum wage is raised only to keep up with increasing prices so the net effect is zero! HOWEVER it can hurt some people receiving minimum wage. Employers, when they have to pay more money in salaries ( minimum wage increase) often recoup their potential lost profit by decreasing the number of their employees...which means your're open to getting fired, to keep your boss's bottom line healthy!
2006-12-09 08:35:27
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answer #5
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answered by dewittclinton2856 2
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definite, that is authentic. whether, an improve in the minimum salary facilitates all workers. because of the fact the minimum pass up, there is stress to advance all human beings's wages. somebody making $11 an hour could quickly be making extra like $11.50 or $12 if the minimum salary grow to be raised. the only human beings it would not benefit are the very prosperous CEOs, who in this united states generally make 3 hundred *situations* what the standard worker in the employer makes - not even the backside paid ones. i think of they might handle the "cut back" in earnings without submitting for financial disaster. Small business enterprise vendors already comprehend that a satisfied, properly-paid worker is a extra efficient and unswerving worker, and are extra interested in protecting efficient workers besides. This united states desires to do some thing - and quickly, to end the link between poverty and motherhood. Being a mom is the #one million probability element for submitting for financial disaster. The salary hollow between childless women and mothers is greater than the hollow between all men and females, greater than the hollow between blacks and whites. Being a woman, yet extra especially, having infants, is completly backwards in this united states. the female invests 1000's, now and back tens of millions of her very own money into the new child, and all of society reward. She gets no return from the government for her artwork. as an occasion, my neighbor raised 5 infants, 4 of whom have been boys. All ended up employed, 3 have been in the protection stress, and yet she gets not something - 0- in retirement reward. A childless bachelor, on the different hand, spending his existence as a felony professional, not in simple terms has extra money his finished existence, yet then is given huge quantities of Social protection reward - presented via different persons's infants. He contributed in simple terms one 0.5 of the mandatory factors of the SS device. the guy who presented the different 0.5, probable to be a woman, recieves not something in any respect, after having decrease earnings her finished existence to contribute that new child. in simple terms a theory....
2016-12-13 05:52:15
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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If people would be responsible for their own lives and futures, they wouldn't have to depend on minimum wage to make a living. People should learn a trade, go to college and hold off starting a family. I don't pity these people at all. They made their beds and they can lie in them!!
2006-12-09 09:25:03
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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