Argument Essay: The Minimum Wage Debate
The Minimum Wage Debate “I wouldn't plow nobody's field from sunrise to sunset for $.50 a day when I could get a $1.30 for pretending to work in a ditch for the federal government” was a statement made by a laborer in 1937. It was in reference to the Civilian Works Administration (CWA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA), President Franklin Roosevelt's newly installed job creation programs. In the midst of the Great Depression, FDR, desperate to restart the U.S. economy, implemented several new radical strategies, one of which would help to establish the first minimum wage. On Saturday, June 25, 1938, President Roosevelt signed into law the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938(FLSA), a landmark legislation in the nation's social and
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, and each side can cite research to support their claims. So what are the facts? Determining which claims are true and which are false is not so easy. However, sifting through the enormous amount of information does yield some conclusive results. First, if we apply the universally accepted law of supply and demand, both sides do agree that raising the minimum wage will result in a significant increase in unemployment, because as labor costs increase, employers will demand less of it. Employers will most likely cut jobs, raise prices, reduce benefits, outsource jobs to foreign markets, use technology and automation to reduce the need for human labor or a combination of these approaches in order to preserve profits. A less likely scenario would have companies accepting lower profits on behalf of their shareholders. For some small businesses in lower cost of living markets, like Mississippi and Arkansas, these changes may not be enough to prevent them from going out of business. Looking at some of the more contentious claims, we see that the vast majority of evidence supports those claims opposing the wage increase. Some of these major conclusions
, and each side can cite research to support their claims. So what are the facts? Determining which claims are true and which are false is not so easy. However, sifting through the enormous amount of information does yield some conclusive results. First, if we apply the universally accepted law of supply and demand, both sides do agree that raising the minimum wage will result in a significant increase in unemployment, because as labor costs increase, employers will demand less of it. Employers will most likely cut jobs, raise prices, reduce benefits, outsource jobs to foreign markets, use technology and automation to reduce the need for human labor or a combination of these approaches in order to preserve profits. A less likely scenario would have companies accepting lower profits on behalf of their shareholders. For some small businesses in lower cost of living markets, like Mississippi and Arkansas, these changes may not be enough to prevent them from going out of business. Looking at some of the more contentious claims, we see that the vast majority of evidence supports those claims opposing the wage increase. Some of these major conclusions