Raising Minimum Wage Essay

Words: 454
Pages: 2

Minimum wage was authorized on the idea that families would be put into a better place financially. Families that have higher income money will be able to spend their excess money on items that may have been considered a luxury in the past. On the opposite side of this reasoning, raising minimum wage may not help lower income families. Job positions within a company, especially which require a lower skill set, will be eliminated and replaced by a lower cost, alternate option. If a company is forced to pay a certain wage for an unskilled worker, the employer could possibly increase their requirements for such position, making workers with little or no experience obsolete in the work force. As the government sets the minimum wage floor, companies will not be able to operate at their equilibrium. This will create a gap that may create further unemployment. The supply of workers could increase because the working wage will increase, while the demand for workers will decrease because workers will cost too much to …show more content…
In fact, a raise in the minimum wage could harm families who work in lower skilled positions. Companies, who are now required to pay their unskilled employees a higher wage per hour, will indeed cut their costs as they see fit. “A cashier with few skills who, following the introduction of a high minimum wage, becomes permanently more expensive than a self-service checkout machine will have no such luck” (A Reckless Wager, 2015). Lower positions within a certain company or industry may be replaced in order to counter the cost that comes with a higher minimum wage. “There are folks who are confident that technology is going to lead to a bounty for all and make everyone better off. And there are other people who are very concerned that we’ll have a jobless future and a lot of people will be left in poverty” (Dubner, 2016). Better technology in the future could in fact take over many unskilled job