Persuasive Research on Minimum Wage
Lee Prutsman
Sarah Hannaway
Expository 200
April 1, 2013
All About the Dollar Many Americans have very different beliefs on how our country should be ran, and one of the most important and most frequently asked questions ties along with money. Our dollar allows us to buy the luxuries to make us happy and gives the lower class the chance to buy the necessities they need to keep them going. Money has been the center of attention for centuries, and one of the controversial topics that surround money is if the government should increase the minimum wage to help boost our frail economy and lower class. The lower class has suffered the past few years with the recession and high unemployment rates and making any kind of change to the minimum wage would affect them directly. Changes to the minimum wage would also affect the value of the dollar as well. An increase to the minimum wage would significantly help the lower class get off the ground and it would surge the lower class spending because they would have more money in their pockets that they aren’t using on necessities and therefore decide to buy for their own pleasure. On the other hand, it could either hurt or help the upper class owners that are running any kind of business. It would hurt them because they would be forced to pay all of their employees that are receiving minimum wage more money but on the other hand; the increased wage would also increase the spending of our whole nation and importantly the citizens that make up the lower class which would help their business profit more. The real question is, which sides outweigh the other? We know now that there are flaws and perks to increasing the minimum wage but would it be worth it to even change it at all? Should we lower it? According to Sarah Shemkus, an award-winning journalist from salary.com “An employee working a 40-hour week at the federal minimum wage would earn $15,080 per year.” This small annual amount of money is just barely under the
Sarah Hannaway
Expository 200
April 1, 2013
All About the Dollar Many Americans have very different beliefs on how our country should be ran, and one of the most important and most frequently asked questions ties along with money. Our dollar allows us to buy the luxuries to make us happy and gives the lower class the chance to buy the necessities they need to keep them going. Money has been the center of attention for centuries, and one of the controversial topics that surround money is if the government should increase the minimum wage to help boost our frail economy and lower class. The lower class has suffered the past few years with the recession and high unemployment rates and making any kind of change to the minimum wage would affect them directly. Changes to the minimum wage would also affect the value of the dollar as well. An increase to the minimum wage would significantly help the lower class get off the ground and it would surge the lower class spending because they would have more money in their pockets that they aren’t using on necessities and therefore decide to buy for their own pleasure. On the other hand, it could either hurt or help the upper class owners that are running any kind of business. It would hurt them because they would be forced to pay all of their employees that are receiving minimum wage more money but on the other hand; the increased wage would also increase the spending of our whole nation and importantly the citizens that make up the lower class which would help their business profit more. The real question is, which sides outweigh the other? We know now that there are flaws and perks to increasing the minimum wage but would it be worth it to even change it at all? Should we lower it? According to Sarah Shemkus, an award-winning journalist from salary.com “An employee working a 40-hour week at the federal minimum wage would earn $15,080 per year.” This small annual amount of money is just barely under the
Cited: Aaronson, Daniel, Agarwal, Sumit, French, Eric. The Spending and Debt Responses to Minimum Wage Increases. Chicago: n.p. Feb 2011. Print. Fong, Bryant. “Decrease Minimum Wage to Save Economy.” The Pioneer. N.p.19 Feb. 2009. Web. 4 April 2013. Shemkus, Sarah. “Increasing the Minimum Wage: Pros & Cons.” Salary.n.p. n.d. Web. 2 April 2013.