In order to counter this, government issues a minimum amount in which a business is allowed to pay their employees. The concept of minimum wage not only goes against everything it means to be a “free society”, but it is also completely illogical according to a vast majority of economists. If the government can control the real wages of millions of Americans by simply passing legislation that says so, then why stop at $9.04 per hour? Why not make it $15 per hour? Isn’t $100 per hour more compassionate to the average entry level, unskilled employee than $9.04 per hour?
Teresa Graham English 111-0DJ Oct. 19, 2011 Teresa Graham English 111-0DJ Oct. 19, 2011 Working but Still Living in Poverty Many Americans work full time jobs but are living in poverty because of the recession, rising food cost, and government cuts. These situations are making it hard for Americans to make it in everyday life. They have to even sometimes beg for food for their families. So many people living in the United States have full-time jobs but the pay is minimum wage. With the economy in the shape it is, it makes those full-time jobs seem like only part-time jobs.
Americans are brought to believe that if they work hard, they will succeed in life. This is not the case though, due to the lack of education to earn a living wage for most families already in poverty. In 2005, thirty-seven million Americans, representing twelve-point-seven percent of the population, lived below the poverty line (Beegle 15). High school dropouts are more likely to be unemployed and earn a lower wages. Studies show that in 1993, the risk of poor children were two times higher for grade repetition and high school drop outs, one-point-three times more for parents reporting emotional or behavioral problems, and six-point-eight times for reported cases of child neglect (Beegle 17).
• Introduction: Good intention may have both consequences depending on how it guided whether by error or correct decision. The best example is the minimum wage regulation which means to raise the wages to improve living conditions but actually influence many to economy. Minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily wage of an employee. Many economists have different ideas of an in crease in minimum wage, the matter in the views on disadvantages and advantages being disputed by many advocates. The advantages from higher minimum wage can have a positive effect on the whole economy flows, while the disadvantages have some negative effects on employment rates.
However, there are many controversies over the implementation of minimum wage claimed by the economist, especially on the effect of unemployment. The majority of the British favours the increase in minimum wage as it would help the poor and lead to the well-being of the society as a whole. However, what is minimum wages? What are the advantages and disadvantages of introducing it? Minimum wage is defined as the minimum amount employer need to pay and this amount is set by the government through legislation.
These writers basically write about two completely different topics, but there’s a point we can relate: immigrants are most of the service workers. In fact, instead of complaining so much about immigrants, we should realize how important they are in our lives. Without immigrants, there wouldn’t be service workers to please us. In Ehrenreich’s adventure, we are able to see that even if the U.S. is called the “promise land”, not everyone can succeed. Living at low-wage is really difficult because the chances to get to a “‘living wage’ are about 97 to 1”(321) and when the author thinks about this, she states that “low-wage work is not a solution to poverty and possible not even to homelessness”(321).
Minimum wage laws force an employer to pay its employees above a mandated level. On one hand, yes, this means that workers have more money in their pockets. It means they can now go out and spend money which will, in turn, stimulate the broader economy, right? Wrong! The higher wages paid by the employer have to be made up somewhere.
They elect or appoint a representative to bargain on their behalf so can have a much larger effect than each individual do it themselves. Neo- classical economic theory predicts that trade unions can improve working conditions but create unemployment in competitive labour markets. If labour markets are competitive, Better working conditions (including higher wages) means higher cost of production to firms, which can shift the demand curve to the right and with the new higher wage, there would be unemployment (Q3-Q2). In this case trade union successfully created benefit for some of its members. The hourly wages of union member saver aged £12.43 in 2006, 16.6% more than the earnings of non-members (£10.66 per hour).
According to FLO-CERT, their payment is 1.26 dollars per pound at the lowest, which is 10 percent higher than the market price. However it is not enough to make a living. This is because farmers need to pay fees for fair trade, such as Application Fee, and Initial Certification Fee. Moreover, even their children are obliged to work. This means farmers are so poor that they cannot live without their children’s working.
1. Analyze the benefits and costs of raising the minimum wage. There are many arguments that are in favor of raising the minimum wage, and many that are against raising the minimum wage. The biggest benefit to raising the minimum wage would be increasing the standard of living to low class families. The families spend more money and it circulates within the economy.