Jan Biasbas

Period: 6

12-20-17

MINIMUM WAGE CAN AFFECT YOU

Minimum Wage should be lowered more because it affects many people. My first reason

being that raising Minimum Wages can affect lower-wage families that work hard. Families that

have low-wage workers that work hard will not make as much money as Minimum Wage

workers that work a steady normal job that can give them almost two times the wage than the

low-wage workers. Another reason being that raising Minimum Wages can affect families with

low-wage workers in another way. They can affect families by letting low-wage workers earn

less than minimum wage workers and also, now low-wage workers have less hours than before

to earn the wages they deserve. The final reason why I want Minimum Wage to be lower is

because the federal minimum has lost 9.6% of its purchasing power. So basically, the federal

minimum has lost 9.6% of its purchasing power (meaning losing money to buy company items

and other items) which is a huge percentage giving it to Minimum Wage workers.

My first claim, “Minimum Wages can affect lower-wage families that work hard”, is also

discussed by Cristina D. Romer. She’s explaining that minimum wages can affect other workers,

“Even if workers are getting competitive wage, many of us are deeply disturbed that some

hard-working families have very little.” Cristina D. Romer is saying that even if the workers’ are

getting the wages they want, it still doesn’t mean it’s fair for hard-working families to get less

than them. Its also not fair for hard-working workers from low-wage families to get lower than
minimum wage workers that do equal or less than they do, which supports my claim because

raising the Minimum Wage can and will affect other or lower-wage workers that work equal or

harder than the minimum wage workers but get less money.

My second claim, “Raising Minimum Wages can affect families with low-wage workers

by allowing low-wage workers earn less than minimum wage workers and also have less hours

than before to earn the wages they deserve”, is discussed by Ben Casselman. Ben explains that in

January of 2016, “Seattle’s Minimum Wage jumped from $11 to $13 an hour for large

employers, the second biggest increase in less than a year”. Ben states that Seattle’s Minimum

Wage is a big increase in less than a year. This causes big problems because it will create a steep

decline for low-wage workers, and less hours for the workers who kept their job, which supports

my claim because low-wage workers that kept their job have less hours to work now because of

the Minimum Wage increasing. This is terrible news to low-wage workers because when they

work harder than minimum wage workers, they don’t earn the same as them.

My third and final claim, “the federal minimum has lost 9.6% of its purchasing power”, is

discussed in a top 5 facts about Minimum Wage by Drew Desilver. Drew states that the

minimum wage increasing affects the purchasing power, in fact 9.6% of the federal purchasing

power. “The federal minimum has lost 9.6% of its purchasing power when they raised the

Minimum Wage to $8.68 (in 2016 dollars)”. Drew states here that the federal will lose its

purchasing power, which basically means the financial ability to purchase a product and/or

services, and it will become very unstable. This relates to my claim because the federal minimum

wage has lost 9.6% of their purchasing power which really affects multiple groups of people

either emotionally or business wise.

 However, going too low for minimum wage can be quite stressful for hard workers who

work a minimum wage job. In the article “Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift

wages for 41 million American workers” by David Cooper, he explains that “In 2016, the federal

minimum wage of $7.25 was worth 10 percent less than when it was raised in 2009, after

adjusting for inflation, and 25 percent below its peak value in 1968”. In this excerpt, he is

basically saying that in 2016, the federal minimum wage was 10 percent less than in 2009. This

is unfair because I believe that the year 2016 should have more than the previous federal

minimum wage increase and also this will also affect hard minimum wage workers that do

excess stuff than the average, similar to the hard low-wage workers that earn less. But, it still

doesn’t mean they need to take away a lot of money from low-wage workers for their own gain.

Coming back to my first claim, “Even if workers are getting competitive wage, many of us are

deeply disturbed that some hard-working families have very little”, this tells us that

hard-working families are still getting little if we raise the minimum wage so it doesn’t really

help.

Therefore, this issue is very crucial to people who work a minimum wage and low-wage

jobs because it can affect both groups. I believe, lowering the minimum wage to an agreeable

pay would thoroughly effect both groups, either very positive or just negative. Balancing those

two would help their families out and also have a very reasonable work time, not just minimum

wage workers. Lowering the minimum wage to a reasonable amount would very help low-wage

workers and also the federal minimum because from my first claim, explaining how minimum

wages can affect low-wage workers, my second claim, low-wage workers have less hours to

work to make up those missing pays, and third claim, federal minimum losing 9.6% of
purchasing power, all of those will be solved if the minimum wage pay is lowered. Finally,

Minimum Wage should be lowered because it can affect low-wage workers, but it should be

lowered at a reasonable pay so both of them can have a balanced wage.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Title: The Business of Minimum Wage

Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/03/business/the-minimum-wage-employment-and-income-dist
ribution.html
Date: March 2, 2013
Author: Cristina D. Romer
Summary: The minimum wage is increasing, according to what Barack Obama proposed in his
State of the Union address. This article explains about how the economists doesn’t care about the
poor - but only cares deeply about poverty and income inequality. It also explains how stores like
Walmart faces substantial competition for workers in most places which seems mind blowing.
Most arguments about minimum wage are based on fairness and redistribution and also when
workers are getting a competitive wage, many of the people are disturbed that a lot of hard
working families will still get paid smaller.
Title: Seattle’s Minimum Wage Hike may have gone too far
Link: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/seattles-minimum-wage-hike-may-have-gone-too-far/
Date: June 28, 2017
Author: Ben Casselman
Summary: Seattle’s minimum wage jumped from $11 per hour to $13 per hour (for large
employees/workers). This specific increase led to steep declines in employment for low paying
workers (also hours less for those who kept their jobs). Low Wage workers can only earn $125
per month less because of the higher wage. Also, they say that the literature shows that the
moderate minimum wage increases; but, the increases went over than moderate.

Title: 5 facts about Minimum Wage

Link: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/01/04/5-facts-about-the-minimum-wage/
Date: January 4, 2017
Author: Drew Desilver
Summary: Minimum wage was adjusted for inflation (the federal minimum wage increased at its
peak in 1968), less than 45% of 2.6 million hourly workers who were below the federal
minimum wage was aged 18-24 years old in 2015, 29 states (including the District of Columbia)
and nearly two other dozens of cities and countries have set their own private higher minimums,
about 20.6 million people are “near-minimum wage workers” meaning workers who are close at
minimum wage.

Title: “Raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift wages for 41 million American
workers
Link: http://www.epi.org/publication/15-by-2024-would-lift-wages-for-41-million/
Date: April 26, 2017
Author: David Cooper
Summary: “​The minimum wage is also a mechanism for combating inequality. As increased
productivity has translated into higher wages for high-wage workers, a rising minimum wage
ensures that the lowest-paid jobs also benefit from these improvements. This is the essence of the
“fairness” implied in the name of the Fair Labor Standards Act, the act that established the
minimum wage.”