Article 1: $15 is the wrong goal for wage warriors
- Claim: The minimum wage should go up, but the costs of going from $7.25 to $15 outweigh the benefits.
- Evidence/Justification: sharp mandatory wage hikes come with high risks due to widely varying labor-market conditions across the country and the likelihood that sharp mandatory wage hikes would reduce the supply of jobs and the minimum wage is not an especially well-targeted way to help the working poor, and some other proposed programs, like the earned-incometax credit wage subsidy – it benefits many workers who are not poor nor supporting families.
Article 2: Raising the Minimum Wage: Good for Workers, Businesses, and the Economy
- Claim: Raising the federal minimum wage would stimulate consumer spending, help businesses’ bottom lines, and would also boost the overall economy by generating increased consumer demand.
- Evidence/Justification: Studies by leading economists found that employee morale and work ethic increase when employees believe they are paid a fair wage. Leading economists have found that increases in the minimum wage have no discernible effect on employment. A study by Doug Hall and David Cooper estimated that a $2.55 increase in the minimum wage would increase the earnings of low-wage workers by $40 billion and result in a significant increase in GDP and employment.
I think that the minimum wage should be raised, but I don’t know if $15 is the right amount. The second article presented a lot of positive effects of raising the minimum wage, but the first article makes a very valid point that $7.25 to $15 is a very big jump that would put the US in an unprecedented situation and could have a multitude of negative economic reprecussions. Ultimately though, I think raising the minimum wage a moderate amount is definitely a net good, that would benefit low income workers and families and would have a good impact on the economy.
Transition Sentences:
- While proponents of raising the minimum wage may say there is no downside, on the contrary, there are a multitude of potential risks that could present themselves.
- Although the potential good of raising the minimum wage seems promising, equally important is the potential bad that good result.
- Raising the wage minimum wage could be bad for the economy; while this may be true the potential for good, especially for poor working class people outweighs the bad.
Concessive Clauses
- Although raising the minimum wage could have negative effects, the long term effects would be positive
- Raising the minimum wage is ultimately good, even though it has some negative aspects
- Despite the potential for economic benefits, raising the minimum wage is risky.
