Recently, there have been many debates in Congress about the minimum wage in the United States, and there were both proponents and opponents of the idea to increase the minimum level (Rogers, 2015). With the coming presidential elections, there will be more discussion whether to increase the federal minimum wage.
Proponents of the increase claim that increasing the minimum wage can strengthen the country’s economy and labor market (Cooper & Sherk, 2014). When the minimum wage is high, people earn more, and it increases their productivity, morale, and companies win when they have motivated and productive employees.
At the same time, when the minimum wage is increased to the proposed level of $15 per hour, it will make almost impossible for the unskilled workers to find the job. However, according to the U.S. constitution and employment laws, all citizens have a right to be employed. If the minimum wage is increased, the rights of unskilled workers will be violated.
Many people state that restaurant servers have low salaries, and this is a good argument that the minimum wage should be increased. Proponents of this idea, however, claim that they receive tips, and because of this they can earn even more money than others who receive a good salary that is higher than a minimum wage of $7.5 per hour. At the same time, this is not correct, because there are many employment laws that regulate minimum wages for people who get tipped (dol.gov, n.d.).
Thus, there are both pros and cons of increasing the minimum wage on the federate level. I think that the minimum wage has to be increased to support the country’s economy, but the increase should be adequate, so the companies can stand this increase.
References
Gol.gov. (n.d.). Minimum wage mythbusters. U.S. Department of Labor. Retrieved 3 May 2016 from https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/mythbuster
Cooper, D., & Sherk, J. (2014). Should the federal minimum wage be raised? Society for Human Resource Management. Retrieved 3 May 2016 from https://www.shrm.org/publications/hrmagazine/editorialcontent/2014/0914/pages/0914-minimum-wage-debate.aspx
Rogers, K. (2015). Inside the minimum wage debate. CNBC. Retrieved 3 May 2016 from http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/04/inside-the-minimum-wage-debate.html
