Logan Mendizabal

4-23-2019

Period 8

There are people in the world who argue about the minimum wage. Minimum wage

should be raised to a higher value because it can increase hiring rates and lift people out of

poverty.People should be protesting about the current minimum wage and how it’s not enough to

survive.As well as share their feelings about the issue of minimum wage.They should prove that

America can’t survive on $7.25.While there is the risk of losing jobs,it’s better to help people

who are poor,struggling to raise a family,having trouble to have a good future with a happy

life,or even survive on a daily basis.Minimum wage should be raised in order to make sure that

people are able to survive and raise families and have good futures.

One reason why minimum wage should be raised is because hiring rates can be

increased.On Procon.org,someone stated that “The Economic Policy Institute stated that a

minimum wage increase from the current rate of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 would inject $22.1

billion net into the economy and create about 85,000 new jobs over a three-year phase-in

period.” To put it differently,a simple increase in the minimum wage will cause a lot of new jobs

to be created within three years.There was a study in 1994 that studied the hiring rates of

fast-food restaurants,“A 1994 study by economists Alan Krueger, PhD, and David Card, PhD,

compared employment in the fast food industry after New Jersey raised its minimum wage by 80

cents, while Pennsylvania did not. Krueger and Card observed that job growth in the fast food

industry was similar in both states, and found ‘no indication that the rise in the minimum wage

reduced employment.’” To clarify,there will be no real consequence for hiring rates if the
minimum wage was raised to a higher value than it is now.The minimum wage should be raised

because as a result, it will create a lot of new jobs and there will be no risk of the hiring rates

dropping.

Furthermore,the minimum wage should be raised is that it could bring people out of

poverty. According to Procon.org that “According to a 2014 Congressional Budget Office report,

increasing the minimum wage to $9 would lift 300,000 people out of poverty, and an increase to

$10.10 would lift 900,000 people out of poverty.” This information states that the higher the

minimum wage is raised,the higher the number of people that are brought out of poverty.Another

person stated that “Isabel Sawhill, PhD, Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings

Institution, stated in 2014 that raising the minimum wage would reduce income inequality, and

Jason Furman, PhD, Chairman of President Obama's Council of Economic Advisers, stated in

2014 that the weakening value of the minimum wage ‘is one of the important [reasons]... for

inequality at the bottom.’” In other words,income inequality will decrease in numbers if the

minimum wage is increased to a better value.The minimum wage should be raised because the

higher it is,the less people in poverty and income inequality will also decrease in the long run.

On the other hand,others believe that raising the minimum wage is not a good idea to do

because it can cause more problems.Steve H. Hanke proved this by surveying the 21 European

Union countries that had minimum wage and found out that they had “...an average

unemployment rate of 11.8%, about a third higher than the 7.9% average unemployment rate in

the seven EU countries that have no minimum wage.” This evidence demonstrates that raising

the minimum wage would cause more jobs to be lost compared to countries with no minimum

wage.However,they are wrong because there are other studies that disprove that raising
minimum wage will cause more problems,like Isabel Sawhill’s study on income inequality and

Alan Krueger’s and David Card’s job hiring comparison when the minimum wage was raised in

another state.Therefore,the argument that raising minimum wage will cause more problems is

invalid due to all the studies that prove that raising minimum wage will help people.

The minimum wage should be raised higher because it’ll raise the hiring rates of

businesses and get people out of poverty.If the minimum wage is raised to a higher value,a lot of

new jobs will be created in a three year timeline and there won’t be any risk of the hiring rates

dropping.Other benefits of raising the minimum wage are there will be less people that are in

poverty and the problem of income inequality will decrease over time.For these reasons,the

problem of people in poverty and not enough hiring opportunities will change for the better if the

minimum wage issue is fixed.Given these points,a lot of people will live happier lives if the

minimum wage is raised because they won’t have to worry about not being paid enough money.