Should The Minimum Wage Be Beneficial - 2775 Words

Crazy Wage Mike Durant once said, â€Å"Making it more expensive to create new jobs is a perfect way to guarantee fewer of them.† The recent, â€Å"Raise the Wage† campaigns have sparked an interest in many low-wage workers. However, those who support this initiative are unaware of the economic problems that will arise if this is successful. Several cities have already raised their minimum wages and some, like Seattle, are raising it as high as $15 per hour. Currently, supporters of this campaign argue that the government should implement this increase federally. However, doing so will have broad and adverse financial implications. Ever since the Great Depression, the minimum wage has been in effect — to reduce poverty and solidify that†¦show more content†¦Throughout the past several years, with the advocacy of many adherents, the idea that the government needs to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 has developed. As a result of the Great Depressio n, in 1938, the federal minimum wage was put into effect as a part of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The government established the federal minimum wage to ensure that employers were not underpaying their employees, and many states also have set other varying minimum wages as well based on the cost of living in those particular areas. According to the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, â€Å"The federal minimum wage ranged from a low of $3.09 in 1948 to a high of $8.67 an hour in 1968† (Pye, â€Å"No we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage†). Also, according to the US Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division, â€Å"The historical average minimum wage was $6.60† (Pye, â€Å"No we shouldn’t raise the minimum wage†). Many supporters of raising the minimum wage want to increase our current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour to $15 per hour, which is more than double the average, more than twice the current, and almost twice as muc h as the all-time high minimum wage. James Sherk, Senior Policy Analyst in Labor Economics, concluded the following from his research: â€Å"Congress typically raises the minimum wage only