The U.S. can’t sustain a $15 minimum raise
At first glance the issue of minimum wage seems like it could be solved just by raising the minimum wage. While it seems like raising the minimum wage to $15 could solve poverty, an increase in minimum wage has been shown to hurt low-wage workers and have other adverse effects on the economy.
Increasing minimum wage won’t help people in poverty and won’t help low-wage workers. Raising minimum wage results in lower employment or less work hours. In a study done by the University of Waterloo, professors measured the effects of 185 changes to minimum wages in Canada. the study found minimum wage swells diminished job opportunities for vulnerable workers. It found that a 10% increase in the minimum wage lead to an approximate 4% drop in teenage employment.
In 2014, the city of Seattle and it's civic leaders adopted a phased-in $15-an-hour wage. Though it is not fully in place, a study by the University of Washington and the National Bureau of Economic Research found that employers have already reduced work hours to compensate for the higher wages. When the second round …show more content…
One such study was performed by the university of washington. The problem with the university of Washington's findings is that the economic team is treating minimum wage as a political problem as opposed to an economic one. The team claimed that after the minimum wage was raised to $11 an hour and employers reduced hours of workers, since workers were being paid more by the hour and employers weren’t going out of business, this was a victory supporting a higher minimum wage. Although the city's low-wage workers earned more, the effect was muted by reduced hours, and the effects were nullified almost entirely. the core takeaway from the report is that "the minimum wage ordinance lowered low-wage employees' earnings by an average of $125 per month in
At first glance the issue of minimum wage seems like it could be solved just by raising the minimum wage. While it seems like raising the minimum wage to $15 could solve poverty, an increase in minimum wage has been shown to hurt low-wage workers and have other adverse effects on the economy.
Increasing minimum wage won’t help people in poverty and won’t help low-wage workers. Raising minimum wage results in lower employment or less work hours. In a study done by the University of Waterloo, professors measured the effects of 185 changes to minimum wages in Canada. the study found minimum wage swells diminished job opportunities for vulnerable workers. It found that a 10% increase in the minimum wage lead to an approximate 4% drop in teenage employment.
In 2014, the city of Seattle and it's civic leaders adopted a phased-in $15-an-hour wage. Though it is not fully in place, a study by the University of Washington and the National Bureau of Economic Research found that employers have already reduced work hours to compensate for the higher wages. When the second round …show more content…
One such study was performed by the university of washington. The problem with the university of Washington's findings is that the economic team is treating minimum wage as a political problem as opposed to an economic one. The team claimed that after the minimum wage was raised to $11 an hour and employers reduced hours of workers, since workers were being paid more by the hour and employers weren’t going out of business, this was a victory supporting a higher minimum wage. Although the city's low-wage workers earned more, the effect was muted by reduced hours, and the effects were nullified almost entirely. the core takeaway from the report is that "the minimum wage ordinance lowered low-wage employees' earnings by an average of $125 per month in