Essay on Minimum Wage
Who wants to make more money? Kind of sounds like a funny question because who doesn’t? Right. Well, there has been a constant debate over what the minimum wage should be in the United States. Sure, more money sounds great, but what does that mean for the economy? What does that mean for tradesmen or college-educated professions? Does that mean that their wages will equally increase or stay the same? Do they think that the prices of everything will increase? The United States raises the minimum wage, they will see all these things soon follow and the economy depletes.
It is hard to believe that in the 1930s, the very 1st minimum wage was set to 25 cents per hour. It is hard to think about what that would mean for us today if we only made 25 cents an hour. We would have to work 8 hours to make 2 dollars, which in today’s day in age, isn’t even a gallon of gas. Today the minimum wage is set at $8.55 per hour. Now, this is a rate that seems more liveable to me. Some people say that this is not a rate that citizens can make a living off of and live a comfortable life. The argument is if the minimum wage is said to be a rate for high school and college students to learn workmanship and to have an income to help with the little number of bills that they have. Minimum wage jobs are not meant for older adults, such as people trying to raise families, rent/buy a home, or even with a full spectrum of bills to pay.
Raising the minimum wage would ultimately hurt our economy. Prices of EVERYTHING would go up. The prices of goods and services would increase to compensate for the increase of companies having to pay their workers. For instance, instead of paying three to four dollars for a coffee at Starbucks that would cost us less than a dollar to make at home, we would be paying eight to nine dollars for that coffee because it will cost more to make and produce it and cost the company more to pay the worker that is making it. If people keep pushing to raise the minimum wage, we will see more and more computers taking over our entry-level jobs. For example, McDonald’s and other fast-food restaurants are already pushing towards automated ordering machines and store are having more and more self-checkout machines.
Making more money sounds good to everyone until you break down the pros and cons of the chain reactions that society will endure. It may seem like everyone is making a good amount of money, but in the long run, you will be spending more because of the way that inflation works. If everyone’s hourly wage is raised, prices will raise for goods and services and possibly layoffs will occur. Small businesses will no longer make a profit, and many will run out of business. All these things result in less jobs and more people in poverty.
