The Minimum Wage and Professional Experience

I think if we were to raise the minimum wage in the United States it would end up hurting out economy as a whole. There are many facts that show an increase in the minimum wage would hurt our economy. For example 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 in minimum wage, California has experienced a decline in employment by ten percent and it is expected to rise as the minimum wage rises.

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 raising minimum wage. It will also cause the price of products to spike drastically and tax will increase when the minimum wage is increased. There have been many occasions where states have stated that employers have reduced their hours, for example Seattle.

Many states already have an increased minimum wage that is higher than the federal minimum wage. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 and many states like our own have a state minimum wage that is actually higher than that. For some states raising the minimum wage by a small amount makes sense because of the cost of living in those states, but raising it to $15 will have an affect on many things throughout the economy. If the federal minimum wage were to go up to $15 we would see a decrease in the number of low-wage workers wanting to go to college and get a higher education to work their way towards a higher paying job. The low-wage workers wouldn’t have any drive to improve their skills and get a better education. 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. According to the Pew Research Center only 2.6 percentof American workers earn the minimum wage and, not surprisingly, over just half of those workers are under the age of 24. Majority of the workers that are working at minimum wage 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.

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 this raise in minimum wage 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 isn’t fair. There is a reason that they are working at minimum wage they should also not earn more just because it isn’t 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.

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