Minimum Wage that is Higher

I think if we were to increase the federal minimum wage in the United States it would be an awful thing for our economy as a whole. There are many facts that prove an increase base pay would hurt our economy. According to Christopher Ingraham the minimum wage in California has gradually been increasing since 2006. The minimum wage in California is projected to hit $15 in 2022 which is concerning to the people that live there. Since the increase, California has experienced a decline in their amount of workers by 10% and it is expected to rise as base pay increases ( Ingraham, Christopher. What Does a $15 Minimum Wage Do to the Economy? Economists Are Starting to Find out. The Washington Post, WP Company, 11 Jan. 2018 ).

Millions of jobs are expected to be lost by 2024 when every state is projected to have $15 minimum wage. Even though it makes sense to raise minimum wage in California because of living expenses it will end up hurting them in the long run. The loss of millions of jobs is not the only bad thing about this whole thing. It will also cause the price of products to spike drastically and tax will increase when the minimum wage is increased. If this continues we will most likely see less and less deals as time moves forward because business will not be willing to do it anymore because they will be paying employers a lot more money. There have been many occasions where states have stated that employers have actually started to decrease their amount of hours, for example Seattle.

Many states already have a set minimum wage that is higher than the federal wage because they have forced it to be set higher than the federal wage. The federal base pay is $7.25 and many states like Minnesota have a minimum wage for their state that is actually higher than the federal wage. If base pay were to go up to $15 we would see a decrease in the number workers who work these low paying jobs want to go to college and get a higher education to work their way towards a higher paying job because they can happily live off their $15 an hour. Workers making the $15 wouldnt have any drive to improve their skills and get a better education because they would be satisfied because they can live off $15 an hour.

This will essentially lower the number of people going to college after high school and it would hurt our economy because our work force would be full of workers with no post secondary education. In the long run this will end up creating more problems with the economy and we could see things like colleges shutting down and many other bad things. According to the Pew Research Center only a small portion of those living in the United States are earning minimum wage. Majority of the workers that are earning this pay are teenagers in high school and college that are working at part time jobs that will help them make money for things like spending and money for college. Those who are working full time at these low paying jobs are those who dropped out of high school or those who chose not to go to college.

Raising the minimum wage will only benefit those working at those low paying job and will essentially be hurting the rest of society that is already earning more than the minimum wage. People pushing for minimum wage to go up just want fairness, but according to someone attending Rutgers University what is considered fair is completely opinion based which is completely true. For example LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers makes 35.65 million dollars and his teammate Lonzo Ball makes 7.48 million. LeBron James is arguably one of the best players to ever play the game and has earned his paycheck.

Lonzo is a second year player who still has to prove himself. This is why fairness is opinion because those two have the same job to do the same thing but LeBron has worked harder and longer and is essentially better at his job. The same can be said about other professional athletes because their skillsets are all different and there are players who have more experience than others because they have been doing it longer and have been put in difficult situations.

So someone who is working at the federal minimum wage should not be making more money because it isnt fair. There is a reason that they are working at minimum wage they should also not earn more just because it isnt fair. In conclusion raising minimum wage will end up hurting the economy. Those who are working in higher paying jobs have most likely had more experience and skill than those working at minimum wage. If we keep the federal wage the same we will see more individuals wanting to go to college because if they realize that they can not live off $7.25 an hour they will realize that college or trade school is the best option. Base pay jobs do need to be filled by someone though and that is why they are perfect jobs for teenagers and those who are retired but still want to make some cash.

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