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Chas Bruske
Professor Elliott
English 111
1 December 2014
Should the Minimum Wage be Raised to $15 an Hour?
An issue that has been featured in the media has been the proposal of raising the
minimum wage to $15 an hour. People are arguing that the minimum wage should be turned to a
living wage to allow people to support a family by working a minimum wage job. However, the
minimum wage should not be raised to $15 an hour due to the loss of jobs that would occur, an
increase in inflation, the opportunities that would disappear for young people to break into the
job market, and better uses of the money that would be spent on wages.
The minimum wage originated in in the Fair Labor Standards Act which was signed on
June 25, 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt (Wilson 2). The minimum wage was created to
offer people a wage they had to be paid to allow them to live an adequate life and has been
gradually increased over time. Since 1938 the minimum wage has been raised 22 times (Wilson
2). While a federal minimum wage is set a company is require to pay its employees the minimum
wage that is set by the state if it is higher than the national minimum wage (Wilson 2). Presently
45 states and the District of Colombia have their own minimum wage rate (Wilson 2).
The minimum wage is meant to apply to entry level workers. Most people who are paid
the minimum wage are classified as part time workers (Flinn 25). It has also been analyzed that if
a person works 30 hours a week they are significantly less likely to receive the minimum wage
(Flinn25). The minimum wage is also commonly paid to workers that work in a common
industry; such as the food service or personal care industries (Flinn 25). In other industries the

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people who receive the minimum wage are less than 20 percent of the people in any of those
industries (Flinn 25). Many people fail to realize all the negative effects that result from raising
the minimum wage to fast.
The first problem that results from raising the minimum wage is the loss of jobs that will
occur. According to the Congressional Budget Office a gradual increase to $10.10 an hour by
July 2016 would eliminate half a million jobs (Morath 2). A person loves to have their wage
raised; however, if a person was offered to have their wage raised but told it could result in them
not having a job most would not want the pay raise. If the minimum wage being raised results in
people losing their jobs the unemployment rate will also be affected and rise if the minimum
wage increases. If the minimum wage was also raised companies could experiment with
replacing human workers with technology.
Recently fast-food restaurants have begun using technology to replace human workers
(Thompson 2). The restaurants make a one-time investment in robots to cook and touch screens
to take orders which result in not having to pay a group of workers hourly. Eventually the robots
would need maintenance, but over time it would be cheaper to pay for the maintenance rather
than paying a group of people hourly to work in a restaurant. This change can already be seen at
major shopping centers with self-checkout. The self-checkouts are taking the place of cashiers
and proving humans can be replaced by technology (Thompson 3).
The loss of jobs can be explained by the supply and demand method proposed by Brown,
Gilroy, and Kohen. If no minimum wage existed a theoretical minimum wage could be created
from the resulting supply and demand graph (488). The equilibrium price people are willing to
pay will allow a wage to be set that would be fair for the company to profit and the worker to
earn a fair wage (489). In further studies done by Brown, Gilroy, and Kohen the marginal cost of

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labor exceeds the supply price; labor is hired until the supply price is equal (489). This results in
an ideal wage between the minimum wage and the competitive wage (489). Showing that a wage
should be set based on market prices and how much a company can afford to pay its workers
while still profiting and not being put in danger financially.
Another economic issue that would result from raising the minimum wage would be the
resulting inflation that would occur. Due to the increased cost of labor, companies would have to
increase prices to offset the costs (Huppke 1). This predicted outcome is shown in an article by
Lynn Thompson who examined the results on businesses in cities where the minimum wage was
raised. The businesses increased prices to offset costs while also stating the results have not been
studied or analyzed for what would occur at $15 an hour (2). Many people complain about the
fluctuation of gas prices, and if the price of all goods rose, many people would have second
thoughts about wages being raised.
Another thing people commonly fail to realize is raising the minimum wage would result
in less opportunity for young people to break into the job market. Restaurant owner Erin ClavoBacci states she is not going to hire people with no experience for such a high cost (Morath
4).Texas A&M economic professor Jonathon Meer also completed a study where the results of
raising the minimum wage did not support raising the minimum wage. Meer concluded,"
minimum wage reduced net job growth, primarily through its on job creation, and that those
effects are most pronounced for younger workers and in industries with a higher proportion of
low-wage workers (Huppke 2). The observation made by two respected individuals does not
produce a prospering job market for young people, which could have numerous negative effects.
It is already very difficult for many young people to find jobs and gather valuable work
experience. If the minimum wage is raised it would become even more difficult for young people

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to find work due to companies not wanting to hire inexperienced people at such a high price. The
training and work experience that comes with working a minimum wage job benefits young
people tremendously. In minimum wage jobs many young people learn responsibility, work
ethic, the value of money, and many skills depending on the type of job they hold. It would also
result in a less experienced working community when the experienced people retire or move to
different occupations.
Another theory that is commonly proposed is rather than raising the minimum
wage the companies should spend the money that would be spent on wages on the education of
employees (Huppke 2). Many of these programs would help people get out of minimum wage
jobs and focus on teaching skills rather than paying employees $15 an hour. This benefits both
the employee and the labor market. The employee is gathering valuable skills and increasing
their skillset for employers. The labor market will also be full of possible employees that have
new skills they previously did not possess and allow the employee to make more than the
minimum wage.
People who propose the minimum wage should be raised to $15 an hour come to the
conclusion by using formulas to show a family cannot afford to pay for basic necessities for
members of the family (Luce 12). Many of the those people also believe the minimum wage
should allow a person to live comfortably based on state and national indexes (Luce 15).The
people are essentially making the argument that if a person works they should be able to live
where and how they choose. However, many of these people who advocate raising the minimum
wage fail to realize it is paid to people working low skill jobs. A person who is currently paid
$15 an hour typically possesses a certain skill that allows them to make $15 an hour. Wages are
set in a market by what someone is willing to pay for a certain skill. If someone is paying

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someone for a certain skill and another person will pay more for that skill it sets a market price
for that skill. The minimum wage is used for people in entry level positions with few skills, so
paying people $15 and hour for minimum wage is senseless.
Many advocates of raising the minimum wage also state it will help remove people from
poverty; citing 900,000 people would now be considered above the poverty line. (Huppke 2).
However, the minimum wage is not solely paid to people in poverty; many people who receive
the minimum wage are kids working their first job or elderly people supplementing their
retirement income (Huppke 2). Also many of the people earning minimum wage are not the
primary earner in their family, rather the third or fourth (Huppke 2).The people who propose the
raise also fail to acknowledge that it would also result in an estimated loss of 500,000 jobs
(Huppke 2). However, the minimum wage is set for people who are in theory not working for a
living, rather working for extra money or while completing another task. Many students and kids
work to offset the costs of education and elderly people work to supplement income or keep
them from becoming bored. These people would like $15 an hour, but it will not affect the
poverty line as these people are typically not in poverty. Thus raising the minimum wage will not
have as great on people in poverty line as believed.
The raising of the minimum wage will be discussed as long as people are working. The
question will always exist as to whether the minimum wage should be raised or not and as
history shows over long periods of time, it should be slightly raised. This causes many people to
claim the minimum wage should be raised to $15, which would allow people to earn a living
wage. However, many factors oppose raising the minimum wage including the loss of jobs that
would occur, the increase in the price of goods, the loss of opportunity for young people, and
better ways to utilize the money that would be spent on minimum wage. The minimum wage

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does need to be raised over time to combat the effects of inflation; however, it is unwise to raise
the minimum wage to $15 an hour.