Many people debate and argue the need to increase the minimum wage since it has not changed since about eight years ago. Does minimum wage have to change?  Some say that minimum wage is high enough and some say it needs to be changed.  However, it all depends on your perspective.  Those who say the wage needs be changed are living in conditions that have forced them to pay more to live in certain areas such as Los Angeles, but the problem is that small business employers have hard time paying their employees and still being a profitable business.  There are also many other problems that can spur from these circumstances such as but not limited to: job loss, higher costs of goods and services, and less government backbone.  The best thing to do is to keep the national rate of $7.25 the same, for it has worked and it will not create more problems.  Do you want to have the entire country struggle with this rushed decision or keep it the way it is?

One of the many issues with raising the minimum wage is that it would take away some government backbone like healthcare and other services that wouldn’t be available if the minimum wage rose.  The Los Angeles Times reported that, “Yet higher wages could lead to many low-wage workers getting less in government benefits” (page 1 of With Minimum Wage Rising is America Ready for a $15-Dollar-an-Hour Working World by Los Angeles Times).  Without health care families would have to buy their own health care which would take a lot of money which would take a significant cut out of the ‘higher’ minimum wage that employees would earn.  In addition, the United States national minimum wage is $7.25 an hour is already a high enough said a study at Bloomberg, “The U.S. rate, $7.25 an hour, is 10th highest in real dollars, which eliminates the effects of inflation, or rising prices.” The national rate is one of the highest in the world that is not affected by inflation and that is the national many states have higher minimum wages than that such as California that has said they will raise their minimum wage to $15 leading up to 2020.  The states that are at the lowest are more rural like Idaho and Iowa.  State specific needs should not be required at the national level.

The second reason that the minimum wage should stay the same is that businesses will hire fewer employees and the prices of goods and services will skyrocket as they are forced to pay more to labor. Increased prices will be passed along to consumers.  Los Angeles Times said in their article that, “Shops, restaurants, and other small businesses that employ low-wage workers could charge customers more.” (With minimum wage rising is America ready for a $15-dollar-an-hour working world,Los Angeles Times).  Since every small business and some large stores hire minimum wage workers to make the most profit this change would affect everyone except for big companies that have an established higher wage workforce.  It will be harder for American businesses to live the American dream of paying by their own rules with their own businesses. Additionally, this change would make it much harder to start business because it would be more expensive and it would have to be profitable for a long to time to be able to sustain itself.

Another reason that the minimum wage should stay the same is that it helps people become a middle class or it keeps the ‘rich and poor ladder’ running.  Bloomberg said that, “The Great Gatsby Curve suggests that more inequality is linked to less mobility.” With the difference of wages it helps people work up the chain for themselves and their family to point of life where they are above the majority all though some may say that this prevents people from moving from the bottom to the top as the evidence above stated, “that more inequality is linked to less mobility.”  Meaning that people are able to get the middle class more easily with different wages and different classes.

Lastly, that the minimum wage does not need to change is that it would cause huge job loss. For example, the Los Angeles Times said that,“Many low-wage workers could lose their jobs or find fewer openings.” The more people get paid at a proposed minimum wage the less jobs there will be as employers now has to pay more to hire employees legally.  Another example that there would be job loss is, we cannot increase the wages anymore, businesses will be harder to run.  “The cost of labor is so high. It’s very, very difficult to run a profitable business at this point.” (California’s Lowest-Paid Workers Could Soon Get a Raise by Associated Press).  Businesses will have a hard time paying all of these employees if the minimum wage is raised with the raise the businesses will not hire as many employees leading usually low-wage worker to lose jobs or have less jobs available to them.  People will lose jobs as the business has to pay more to hire their low-wage employees causing more low-wage workers to lose their jobs.  “The real question is what fraction of the workers will lose the jobs.” from California’s Lowest-Paid Workers Could Soon Get a Raise by Associated Press. 

Having the minimum wage increase is good for many reasons as well.  One example is that people enjoy life with experiences Associated Press said in California’s lowest-paid workers could soon get raise, “The increase would let him treat his family to weekend dinners and a vacation to Disneyland.”  It would help people get more money to spend on things that they need when they do not have a second income it will allow single people with kids or people without kids, to help their family and still have enough for their own to buy the things that they need personally.  Although theses changes would be great for a lot of people it would hurt more people than it will help.

The national minimum wage should stay the same at $7.25 per hour. Though changing the minimum wage to $15-an-hour would help a significant amount of low-wage workers, it also would affect millions of others that would have a hard time finding employment.  The minimum wage should stay the same because it causes more harm than good.  This topic is some important it affects everyone in the country and this decision will change the lives of millions in good and bad ways.  The best possible thing we can do is change the wages at the state level. This would solve the problems in those states where the problems are and not affect everyone just those who need it.  A third reason is that people will lose jobs as the business has to pay more to hire their low-wage employees causing more low-wage workers to lose their jobs. “The real question what fraction of the workers will lose the jobs” (California’s Lowest-Paid Workers Could Soon Get a Raise written by Associated Press).  The problem with raising the minimum wage is that even though it might help a lot of people it could will harm more than good it will end up not helping and it will hurt the people who need the extra cash.  Not only would people lose their jobs people who are unemployed will have harder time finding jobs as other people cannot be profitable with a high minimum wage. The more expensive it is to hire, the fewer people businesses will hire.  “Someone has the bear the cost of higher wages.  A large burden would fall on the low-skilled and working poor if they had fewer jobs available to them”(Issue Overview: Minimum Wages Bloomberg adapted by Newsela). We should not hurt the people we are trying to help.