should minimum wage be increased?

Economics is all about incentives, so your question is a very insightful one. If the minimum wage is increased, will individuals have incentives to try to further their career since they are already making more money? The answer is yes. Individuals really don't care how much money they make; they care more about how much stuff that money will buy. If the minimum wage is increased, this increased cost will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher prices, or inflation. This will cause individuals earning the new minimum wage to be no better off than they were before. There are other consequences to the increased minimum wage however. Those individuals making more than minimum wage will become poorer, since they will not receive a pay increase but will have to pay the higher prices that are a result. Also, many businesses will cut back on the number of people hired in order to control the costs.

The bottom line is that the minimum wage increase will help those who receive it since the price increases of goods will not likely go up as much as the increase in pay, making them richer. Individuals who get fired as a result of cost cutting measures will be worse off, since they will not have jobs. Individuals making more than minimum wage will also suffer, since they will not be able to buy as much stuff for the same amount of money they are making.

The government should have no say whatsoever on wages. Your pay should be decided between you and your employer. If you ask for too much, the employer can decide not to hire you. If the employer won't pay enough (what many call a "living wage") you can look for work with someone else. The end effects of increasing minimum wage are inflation and increased unemployment among those at the bottom of the pay scale. Imagine if they raised the miniumum wage to $1000 per hour. People who didn't understand how economics work would think "Oh goodie, I'm going to be rich!" until they were laid off because their employer couldn't afford to pay them that much.

Minimum wage is so low that few jobs offer starting pay that low. Even with that as a fact, raising the minimum wage will increase the cost of everything else. It makes no sense, but that is what will happen. Some will use the increase as an excuse to increase prices even though it has no real effect on the cost of producing their product. If you are already paying 10 dollars an hour and minimum wage is increased to 8 dollars an hour, you have no excuse to raise prices, but it happens.

Minimum wage should not be increased for any reason. Unfortunately, it's too late. The libs have captured both houses so they will push their socialistic agenda not caring that a minimum wage increase will only be passed on to the consumer in higher prices.

The higher prices will more than offset the increased dollar amount in min wage workers pocket and everyone will have decreased purchasing power.

The min wage worker will be hurt the most by this.

Yes,.. minimum wage is ridiculously low in praportion to what it used to be back a ways say 20 or so years, and before. There is noe way someone can support themselves off of minimum wage in this day and age, which is exactly what minimum wage is supposed to be able to do. THe inflation isn't a result of minimum wage increase, its a result of other poor palnning and alowing buisnesses to screw the consumer and worker in search of bigger profits. Its sickening,. and meybe if our Goddamn government would get its head out of its *** and worry about the homefornt as much as the war front,. and work togethor to make this country better rather than compete over which party can look better or screw the other over more, we might see this change,. but until then,. were all screwed

Yes the minimum wage should be determined by each community not by the state or the federal government. There should be a full community referendum vote of the people who live and work there. They no the facts involved and live it day by day. Business have to make profits and workers have to subsist on what they get for pay. The profits should be what is needed to compete and stay in business. The minimum pay is what is needed to subsist.

Sure it should be increased. Who can live on $5.15 an hour? If that's not poverty level, it sure ought to be. And as far as incentive goes, minimum wage jobs are always going to be the bottom of the barrel, no matter what the wage is set at. People who want something more are going to move on, regardless of the level of the minimum wage.

One problem with raising he minimum wage is company do not then give raise since the minimum wage increase help with that.

k1

Minimum wages should definitely be increased. Afterall, how are highschool kids supposed to keep up with the increasing price of drugs and cigarettes?

Minimum wage is so low now it's almost impossible to survive on it. With inflation it's not going to make that big of a change... They don't have much incentive ANYWAY, so big frickin deal.