Minimum State Living Wages Every

Minimum State Living Wages Every state has wages that they require companies to pay to employees. The federal government also has a minimum wage requirement (Black, 2003). The states can pay more than the federal minimum, but they aren't allowed to pay less (Sowell, 2007). There are some people who do not have to pay minimum wage to their employees. Companies that do not make above a certain amount of money can pay less, and so can companies that only employ family members (Black, 2003).

Independent contractors are not considered employees, so they do not have to be paid minimum wage, either (Black, 2003). They can do work for next to nothing, and there is not anything they can do about it, other than not do work for that person or company anymore. For most employees, minimum wage is important. They want to get paid as much as possible, and they do not want to be cheated out of what they should be getting paid (Sowell, 2007).

There are plenty of people who get paid more than the minimum wage, and people who only make minimum usually want to see it raised. They think that they will make more money that way, and that they will see a higher quality of life. That sounds good, but a lot of times they really do not have more money because the prices of everything go up to compensate for the raise in wages (Black, 2003).

The people who are trying to get ahead end up no better off than they were in the first place, and that is very difficult for them, and for the economy overall (Sowell, 2007). Like any issue, there are pros and cons when it comes to minimum wage -- on the state level and the federal level. Some people think that raising it is a great idea, and other people think it will only cause more problems.

With that in mind, it is important to look at both the good points and the bad points of minimum wage in order to see whether it is a good idea to raise it or whether it should be left alone. This is not an issue that can be easily decided, because people will always have different opinions (Black, 2003; Sowell, 2007). Just because something does not have an easy answer, though, is no reason not to attempt to study it.

Pros The main pro-of minimum wage is that it stops companies from taking advantage of people who want and need to work (Black, 2003). If there were no minimums that a person had to be paid, companies could make people work for pennies, just because those people needed the work. Not only would that be unfair, but it would be cruel, as well.

It would seriously harm the quality of life for a person, and it would also hurt the economy, so minimum wage is needed to keep companies fair and honest (Sowell, 2007). People have to get paid a set amount, and that amount is enough to allow them to live. They can rent a small apartment, pay their bills, and buy food. They might not be able to do much else, but they certainly get a chance at moving forward with their lives (Black, 2003).

A lot of people take these kinds of jobs when they are young and just starting out, if they never completed much schooling, while they are in school, or if they are a stay-at-home parent and decide that they want to work part-time, usually while their children are in school (Sowell, 2007). These minimum wage jobs help a lot of people who would not be able to get another kind of job but who do need to work and make some money (Sowell, 2007; Black, 2003).

Another pro-of minimum wage is that people who freelance or work as independent contractors have a good idea of what they should be charging for their services (Black, 2003). It helps them understand what the talents and abilities that they have are worth, and that means that they can charge fair prices that they might not otherwise be comfortable with. They can also show the people they are charging the prices to why they feel that those prices are fair, so they have a better chance of getting the work (Sowell, 2007).

This would be much more difficult if they had nothing that they could compare their rates to, since freelancers or independent contractors can often struggle with companies and individuals who do not see the value in what they do or who want to receive something for nothing, if possible. Having a minimum wage does not hurt businesses or the creation of new jobs, so both the companies that are creating jobs and the people who are looking for jobs can feel good about minimum wage (Sowell, 2007).

What they are getting out of the employer-employee relationship is not being hurt by having a set dollar amount that someone has to pay the employees who are the newest and/or who do the most menial of jobs (Sowell, 2007). These are the people who usually make minimum wage, although there are some jobs where minimum wage is all that can be expected, no matter how long a person has done the job (Black, 2003).

Employees are also motivated to work harder when they receive minimum wage because they know how much they are going to be paid, and they know that they will not be given less than that. They can figure that against the hours that they work, take out taxes, and see how much money they will actually have left over, which helps them plan their bills, their expenses, and the rest of their lives (Sowell, 2007).

Studies show that low-income people tend to spend their entire paychecks and are not as interested in saving money for later, so giving them more money to spend is a very big boost to the economy (Sowell, 2007; Black, 2003). It helps them buy more of what they want, and it helps businesses get more revenue, which in turn lets them pay more employees minimum wage or give raises to some of the employees who have been there for a long time (Black, 2003).

It is a great way to boost the economy overall, and it is one of the main reasons why there are so many advocates for having and keeping (and raising) the minimum wage (Sowell, 2007). Still, though, there are people who think minimum wage is not such a good idea, and they make sane arguments, as well. Cons When it comes to minimum wage, one of the main arguments against it is that it drives up prices (Sowell, 2007; Black, 2003).

Because a company is required to pay a certain amount to anyone it employs, it cannot do things as cheaply as it might have been able to otherwise. While that is good for the employees who need the money, it is argued that it is bad for the economy overall, because prices going up means that everyone has less money (Sowell, 2007). The people who have a lot of money do not really notice it, but most people do not fall into that category.

They have to work for a living, and the more that they get paid, the better -- until they realize that they have to give more of their money to merchants to get the products and services that they need (Wellington, 1991). At that point, getting paid more is not as appealing, because it really does not give a person more money in the bank at the end of the day, week, or month (Wellington, 1991).

If the wages went up but the prices stayed the same, minimum wage issues would be less of a problem for a lot of people. Another serious con when it comes to the minimum wage is that raising it stops some people who would have otherwise gone on to further their education (Wellington, 1991). These.