A Case of Illinois: Raising Minimum Wage Essay Example

A case of Illinois raising the minimum wage was a bad idea because the wage rise made the standard of living worst and made jobs leave Illinois to find cheaper states or go outside the country. “President Obama's Minimum Wage Proposal: Raising Wage Rates for Working Americans,” congressional digest talks about how Obama’s plan to raise the minimum wage to help middle class people get jobs by making the united states center for jobs. “The Truth About the Minimum Wage: Neither Job Killer Nor Cure-All,” Alan manning talks about how the raising the minimum wage can affect the number of employees being hired. Manning talks about how the increase of minimum wage can weaken the demand for labor. Although it could impact jobs, the US should not increase wages because increase more pain for people in poverty, unemployment will go up, consumer goods prices will go up, and the jobs will be outsourced.

Raising the minimum wage can create more obstacles for lower wage people because lower wage workers will have to leave due to companies wanting to save money leaving poor people without a job.  The quote talks about the potential impact if supporters of wage increase pass a bill that increase the wage than companies fear of cutting employees. Katel quote states “Supporters of increasing the rate say it would lift many Americans out of poverty, but business groups say an increase would hurt the working poor because it would cause companies to lay off low-wage workers (katel).”

The quote means if we increase the wage rate than we would have to cut people from work. Even though, rising wages can hurt poor people more, but can potentially have more money in their pocket and won’t lose their job depending on the company the person works for. Unemployment is a problem in the united states because then people who need a job to pay their bills can’t get one due individual circumstances such as a disability or a criminal record. Other circumstances are a high volume of applications are flooding into jobs making it more hard people to obtain a job due to lack of experience.

The united states should not increase the wage is because it can cause unemployment. The minimum wage hike can cause lots of hours of work for employees or can cause an employee to lose their job. This quote explains the cause and effect on employment if the wage increases. Finn states “Combining these two necessary conditions, we note that the fact that the population, employment and unemployment rates are multiplicatively separable in the participation decision and a function of the unemployment rate among labor market participants implies that a minimum wage increase cannot simultaneously yield an increase in the employment rate and a decrease in the unemployment rate (finn).”

The quote talks about factors that relate to the working of unemployment after doing a study whether minimum wage does increase the unemployment rate or not, but, the results are the wage hike increase employment, but same time increases unemployment. Even though, minimum wage hike can affect unemployment, but, can increase employment in other areas in the field such as technology repair since jobs now have self-checkout computers to replace cashiers. Consumerism is an important because that’s what the economy needs people spending their money on products for the house or to go out and eat at a restaurant so the small businesses make their money too.

The united states should not increase the minimum wage because product prices will increase as well. Consumer prices can go up making it more difficult to afford the item. For example an article I read talks about the criticism of increasing the minimum wage because of consumer good prices. Wascher states “First, although the direct effect of a minimum wage increase would be to raise the relative prices of goods produced with minimum wage labor, opponents of minimum wages have frequently pointed to the potential consequences for aggregate inflation from an increase in the wage floor. The basic argument is that minimum wages can be viewed as an exogenous cost shock that, like an increase in oil prices would raise inflationary pressures in the economy (Neumark).” The quote, examines a research done, whether or not increase wages can affect the prices of consumer goods and can cause tensions in the economy. Even though, increasing wages can affect consumer goods, but, also have to increase demand in the product because the employees in the company had their wages go up too, so in order to keep the company alive the corporations have to increase their prices to keep up with the profits. The jobs being outsource are a problem because some people don’t have certain skills to work at a company due to technology being implanted in corporations.

The united states should not increase the minimum wage is because it can hurt small businesses. Small business are hurt by the minimum  wage hike now will have to pay employees more resulting in unemployment. The quote explains how the increase in the minimum wage results in jobs lose for people between 16-64. Berlatsky states “ A 10 percent increase in the minimum wage is associated with a 0.9 to 1.1 percent decline in the share of individuals aged 16-64 who are employed in the retail industry, and a 0.8 to 1.2 percent reduction in the share of individuals aged 16-64 employed in small businesses (joseph).” The quote explains a statistics research between wage increase and job loss in retail and small business. Even though, the wage hike can harm business depending on the industry you opened, but, can help small business, increasing the profit of the product that is sold in stores or food served in restaurants. 

In conclusion, minimum wage increase can hurt small businesses, consumer goods will increase, unemployment will go up, and people in poverty will suffer even more. Minimum wage hike right now is a bad idea particular in Chicago because of higher taxes due to the state mismanaging their money. Jobs have been closed, but that’s due to amazon coming on the market along with other online shopping sites because it’s more convenient. Jobs have left Illinois and moved to states with cheaper wages, such as Georgia or Arizona. The only way we can increase the minimum wage is to find jobs that will most likely to survive increase wages and can handle higher taxes until Chicago has a solution to the budget problems and somehow find a way to lower standard of living so more people can move in or have people who previously moved to due expensive housing back to the city and hopefully continue there. Minimum wage hike right now is a bad idea even when the Illinois senate jobs pass a bill that will increase the wage to $15 which is even worse, we’ve already lost a lot of people and stores, but adding more destruction by passing bills that won’t even work and make employment more difficult to find than it is.