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Raising the Minimum Wage: A New National Standard

OUTLINE

I. Introduction

A. Attention Statement:

1. Hello, I would like to discuss the need to raise the minimum wage in the United States. This debate is very important for every single citizen of this great nation.

2. Over the years, there have been concerns about the state of low-income workers in the country (Brown, Gilroy & Kohen, 1982). On the one hand, the low-income workers have not been able to live a decent living teetering above the poverty line life and often need to rely on government sponsored support programs to earn a working wage. Over the years numerous states, local municipalities and recently the Obama Administration have tried to raise the minimum wage above $10 an hour. Though, some scholars identify adverse effects of such a move.

B. This is why I propose there should be a revised minimum wage policy in U.S.

II. Significance

A. Harm 1: Not raising the minimum wage keeps workers living standards down.

1. Several benefits can be realized by raising the minimum wage. One of the fundamental aspects of increased minimum wage is improved living standards (Rodriguez, 2016).

2. Admittedly, one of the benefits that many American workers would realize as a result of increased pay is the ability to meet the cost of the basic needs and the living expenses.

3. A Congressional Budget Office report, 2013 estimated that more than 16 million low-wage employees would benefit from a minimum wage of $10.10 per hour. This includes almost 1 million workers who would get the opportunity of climbing above the poverty threshold.

B. Harm 2: Worker morale suffers without a fair working wage.

1. On the other hand, higher minimum wage increases worker morale. Inherently, higher pay can boost worker morale (Need, 2006).

2. An individual who has worked for minimum or near minimum wage can contend that at the level, worker motivation is always low compared to the people who are paid relatively higher wages. Besides, it is difficult for businesses to retain workers over a long time or maintain a cohesive team of workers because the low pay does not encourage talented employees to stay long in an organization (Economic Policy Institute, 2016).

3. A higher minimum wage helps in keeping turnover rates low in an organization.

III. Inherency

A. The minimum wage has not kept up with inflation.

B. We are dealing with structural inherency since the current policy is not keep pace with the current economic inflation and standard of living.

IV. Plan

A. Agent: The United States of America

B. Mandates:

1. That congress provide a standard minimum wage to keep up with some states the private sector and a few local municipalities of $15 an hour.

a. The Obama campaign has a effort in to raise the minimum wage to 10.10 but that is being surpassed by state and local municipality efforts.

2. A national educational campaign and pac committee established to lobby congress for change.

3. Money set aside for grass root campaigns in each state.

4. Tax breaks and incentives provided for private sector companies in multiple states to increase their minimum hourly wage for employees spurring competition and increasing employee wages, moral and retention.

5. Union involvement in rallying members to push for contracts that specify $15 as the minimum standard of pay.

C. Enforcement:

1. Enforcement until law can only be accomplished through state and local ballot initiatives and through private sector competition. Unions can play important role in rallying their membership.

D. Funding and Staffing:

1. I feel this can only be accomplished through lobbying efforts like in the first six months of a new administration. Education and through private campaigning by local and national unions.

E. Timeline: 2020

1. Changes like these have to be phased in gradually in order to benefit workers and allow businesses to adjust gradually.

V. Solvency

A. Harm 1: Increasing the minimum wage provides for higher spending ability. It is important to note that increasing pay checks is necessary for maintaining consumer spending. The extra income that gets into the pockets of the millions of workers would move down to retailers and give a boost to the economy (Rodriguez, 2016).

B. Harm 2: Since Roosevelt created the minimum wage during the Great Depression in 1938, it has been increased 22 times, while the Gross Domestic product has steadily increased for more than 75 years. By increasing the minimum wage we reduce the dependency on food stamps, Medicaid, refundable tax credits, and housing and energy subsidies.

1. The federal government spends over $78 billion dollars each year to support the families of workers earning less than $12 an hour" (Economic Policy Institute, 2016).

C. Harm 3: It has been cited that raising the minimum wage will reduce job opportunities and worker benefits. However, other than increasing product prices, businesses can counter the increased cost of wages by reducing the number of employees or reducing the worker benefits (Card & Krueger, 1995).

3. A federal minimum wage increase can reduce the desire for career development among workers. While the pay rise can boost worker morale, it also can damage ones drive for improving themselves in their career (Need, 2006).

VI. Advantages

Raising the minimum wage will bring about many positive changes for the United States economy.

A. The department of labor recently did a study dispelling many of the myths regarding increasing the minimum wage. One myth was that raising the minimum wage will only benefit teens, which are not true as the typical minimum wage worker is a female or over 20 years of age.

B. Another is that increasing the minimum wage will cause people to lose their jobs. This was proven wrong in a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders citing evidence from over 600 economists that the increase in wages has no effect on employment, but in fact, has a small simulative effect on the economy as low-income workers spend their extra earnings spurring demand and creating job growth.

C. The other aspect is that increasing the minimum wage is bad for the economy and for small business. This is dispelled by studies which show that higher wages reduce employee turnover and training costs (United States Department of Labor, 2016).

To raise the minimum wage, it requires the approval of Congress and the president.

VII. Conclusion

It would be important to acknowledge that increasing the minim wage may come with unintended consequences.

A. The current low minimum wage is not sustainable for the millions of American workers who are taking home the federal minimum wage.

B. It is appropriate to raise the wage as a way of boosting the economy, enhancing worker morale and productivity, and therefore promote self-sufficiency amongst the millions of American workers.

References

Brown, C., Gilroy, C., & Kohen, A. (1982). The effect of the minimum wage on employment and unemployment. Journal of Economic Literature, 20(2), 487-528.

Card, D., & Krueger, A. B. (1995). Time-series minimum-wage studies: a meta-analysis. The American Economic Review, 85(2), 238-243.

Economic Policy Institute (2016). The impact of raising the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020 on workers, businesses, and the economy. Retrieved from http://www.epi.org/publication/the-impact-of-raising-the-federal-minimum-wage-to-12-by-2020-on-workers-businesses-and-the-economy-testimony-before-the-u-s-house-committee-on-education-and-the-workforce-member-forum/

Lee, D. S. (1999). Wage inequality in the United States during the 1980s: Rising dispersion or falling minimum wage? Quarterly Journal of Economics, 977-1023.

Need, W. C. D. H. P. (2006). Human resource management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Retrieved from http://s3.amazonaws.com/prealliance_oneclass_sample/e5kKbwZMpg.pdf

Rodriguez, A. (2016). Minimum wage increase benefits all of us in California. The San Diego Union Tribune.

United States Department of Labor (2016). Minimum Wage Myth busters. Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/featured/minimum-wage/mythbuster

Williams, S. (2015). Pros and Cons of Raising the Federal Minimum Wage: Where Do You Stand? Retrieved from http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/03/01/3-pros-and-cons-of-raising-the-federal-minimum-wag.aspx