The Minimum Wage Should Increase
Minimum wage should increase to $10.10.
More than 47 million people in the US alone have to suffer through poverty [1]. But according to the Washington Post, 4.6 million of these people can get out of poverty simply by increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 [2]. Although most people think that minimum wage causes poverty, but that’s not true. Raising the minimum wage slightly higher can benefit millions of people, though raising it too high can cause problems. This article is about why the minimum wage should be increased to $10.10 instead of being increased more or not being increased at all.
As I mentioned earlier, some people think that increasing the minimum wage will increase poverty and unemployment. But according to Financial Times, when Germany first introduced its minimum wage plan, the employment rate increased 200,000. And Hungary increased its 60%, but even such an extreme change didn’t cause much unemployment[3]. If the minimum wage is increased to $10.10, it will increase the wages of 27.8 million workers [4].
Unlike what most people think, raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will actually increase the economy instead of harm it. Raising it too much will make businesses go into losses, move to places where the minimum wage is lower, or the quality of their product will deteriorate. Increasing it to $10.10 would increase the economy by $22.1 billion and create 85,000 new jobs [5]. It will also increase the GDP by $22 billion [4].
The minimum wage should be increased to $10.10, but should not be increased any higher than that. If it does not increase, many people will remain in poverty their whole lives. If it is increased too much, businesses will make losses. An increased minimum wage will not only be empathetic and moral, but also help many people get out of poverty and can even increase the economy. It doesn’t have to be increased to anything too high, just to $10.10.
Sources
Fleming, Sam, and Courtney Weaver. "US minimum wage rises underline Clinton and Sanders
divide." Financial Times 7 Apr. 2016, natl ed.: n. pag. Financial Times. Web. 7 Apr. 2016. <http://www.ft.com>.
[1] http://www.povertyusa.org/the-state-of-poverty/poverty-facts/
[2] Konczal, Mike. "Economists agree: Raising the minimum wage reduces poverty."
The Washington Post 4 Jan. 2014: n. pag. The Washington Post. Web. 10
Apr. 2016. <https://www.washingtonpost.com>.
[3] Martin Sandbu. "Free Lunch: The outsize benefits of innovation." Financial Times 7 Apr. 2016,
natl ed.: n. pag. Financial Times. Web. 8 Apr. 2016. <http://www.ft.com>.
[4] http://www.epi.org/publication/raising-federal-minimum-wage-to-1010/
[5] "Minimum Wage." ProCon. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 May 2016.
<http://minimum-wage.procon.org/>.