Mar
16
Raising Minimum Wage – Tina Jing Ru Shen
March 16, 2015 | Leave a Comment
I agree most with James Sherk and Christina Romer’s article, probably because it states the facts and evidence more clearly than the other readings. Raising minimum wages seems like an obvious way to improve living for the poor, but after further research as seen in Sherk’s article, most of the people working on minimum wage are not the ones who are struggling to support their families. In fact, they are teenagers or older adults whose families are well off, but they work minimum wage jobs to either pass time, get a little small change for their allowance, or gain extracurricular experience. Similar to the documentary we watched last class about the government giving tax breaks to the overly rich residents, could raising the minimum wage be another instance in which the government is further helping the already well off groups in our society?
I was surprised by Romer and Sherk’s articles because they all expose the reality that the majority of minimum wage workers are not actually low-income individuals. I thought the stereotype of teens working in poorly paid local diners, fast food restaurants and the like were only in movies. Then I wondered, if the well-off groups are taking most of the minimum wage jobs, then where are the low-income workers? The last article answered my question in perfect timing: “The problem is that most poor Americans do not work at all.”
I do not know how to comment on this point. I respect that teens are getting part time jobs, and in the meantime, they are gaining work experience that will help them further in their lives, but I feel bad that they are the people that are taking jobs that low income workers need. However, the employers are more to blame because they do not give enough opportunities to the people who really need the money. The best way that the government can help the poor is to train them so they can actually qualify to compete for jobs alongside better educated workers.
In addition to Sherk’s compelling facts, Romer makes a point that I thought was interesting and also a possible result of raising minimum wage. If companies are forced to give higher wages to their workers, they will raise the price of their products. Romer explains that McDonald’s and Walmart are known for their cheap prices, so low-income families frequent their stores. If these companies raise minimum wage, they will raise the price of their products, thus there is no resulting increase in living standards of low income households.
The question I posed in the first paragraph is controversial, but the government should have already researched the demographics of the minimum wage workers. If Sherk can find the facts, the government surely could as well. Additionally, Sherk mentions that raising minimum wages will only drive companies to recruit skilled workers rather than inexperienced, lower educated workers. Although raising the minimum wage is a partially effective method to push the poor upward, educating the low income groups with public workshops would allow these people to get skilled jobs, and actually put the minimum wage raise to use.
