Rhetorical Analysis: Let's Make The Minimum Wage

In Ira Knight’s speech, “Let’s Make the Minimum Wage a Living Wage”, he provides reasons to raise the minimum wage. In Janice Steele’s Huntington Post article, “Keep the Minimum Wage Where It is”, she states that increasing the minimum wage is not good for the economy and small businesses. In Ira Knight’s speech he gave more facts and evidence while Janice Steele’s article focused more on opinion. For that reason, Ira Knight’s speech has stronger support. To begin, Janice Steele’s article is too opinionated. For example, she states, “This could lead to a recession causing even more unemployment for minimum wage workers.” This may strictly be her opinion since she does not provide any evidence for how this could cause a recession. She is obviously overgeneralizing and making assumptions that she can’t back up. In contrast, Ira Knight uses evidence like, “According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, more than 3.8 million employees currently work at minimum wage …show more content…
For example, he refers to a study in 2011 from the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank that showed that if minimum wage was increased it would lead to higher consumer spending. It showed that each dollar increased resulted in $2,800 more in household spending. He also refers to another study that showed states that increased minimum wage saw more job growth in the first 6 months. Ira Knight used studies to support his position. Also, Ira Knight points out that raising minimum wage would help get more Americans out of poverty. He again uses a study to back his position. Mr. Knight referred to a study done by the University of Massachusetts Amherst showing that increasing minimum wage would remove 3.5 million people from the food stamps program. This saves money for the taxpayers and benefits the government. Mrs. Steele’s statements like, “Small businesses, the heart of America, will also be hurt” do not hold up with no evidence to back her