Minimum Wage

For Conservatives:

Viewpoint: In general, liberals believe in the enactment of a higher minimum wage, at about 15 dollars per hour, to improve the lives of America’s millions of poor.

Reasoning: In the United States, the current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. It has not increased since July 24, 2009, when it changed as part of the final step of a three-step increase that was originally passed in 2007 (when the minimum wage was $5.15). However, many liberals feel that this salary is outdated and must be increased in order to better support America’s poor. In 2012, striking fast-food workers launched the Fight for $15, a movement that sought to raise the minimum wage in America to $15 per hour to help these workers make more money and support themselves more easily. Since then, California, New York, and the District of Columbia have approved this action. Their populations represent about 18 percent of the American workforce. Additionally, states such as Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona, and Maine have agreed to increase their minimum wages to numbers ranging from $12 to $14.75 an hour.

In March of 2021, Democrats in Congress attempted to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by including the measure as part of a reconciliation bill. Since debate on reconciliation bills is limited, this legislation would bypass the 60-vote Senate supermajority required to overcome a filibuster. This shortcut is particularly important during polarized eras—in the current 117th Congress, the Senate is split 50-50 between Republicans and Democrats. However, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the minimum wage increase did not fall within the required standards for reconciliation measures. Thus, bills of that nature will need to undergo the traditional, cumbersome legislative process in order to pass.

Liberals note a variety of positive economic effects that they feel would result from a minimum wage increase. First, it would increase the earnings of 41 million workers in the United States (nearly 30 percent of the workforce) who currently make minimum wage. Such people, whether they be preschool teachers, fast-food workers, or house cleaners, struggle to get by on about 20,000 dollars a year. With this act, they would experience a 3,500-dollar growth in their yearly earnings. Additionally, the gap between the money made by middle-class workers and minimum wage workers has continued to grow since 1979. Many liberals argue that growth in the minimum wage across the country would help rectify this. Finally, liberals feel that the economy, not just the workers, would benefit from such an act. Those receiving a higher minimum wage would be able to spend more, thus helping stimulate the economy, business activity, and job growth.

A common argument against a higher minimum wage is that a large percentage of workers receiving the rate are teenagers who work part-time while in high school and do not particularly need more money. However, the average worker who would benefit from a 15 dollar per hour wage, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), is a “36-year-old woman with some college-level coursework who works full time.” In fact, fewer than 10 percent of such workers are teenagers, and over 50 percent work full-time and are between the ages of 35 and 54.

“The average worker with a spouse or child who would benefit from a $15 minimum wage provides 64 percent of his or her family’s total income” ~ Economic Policy Institute

In their argument for a higher minimum wage, liberals attempt to appeal to taxpayers. Often, when employees are paid wages with which they cannot possibly support themselves, they are forced to turn to public assistance. Federal and state taxpayers spend over 150 billion dollars a year for such programs, including Medicaid, welfare (TANF), food stamps (SNAP), and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). In 2015, a University of California, Berkeley study found that annually, taxpayers pay about $127.8 billion at the federal level and $25 billion at the state level for programs to support people working low-wage jobs. Raising the minimum wage would result in a decrease in these numbers, according to a report by the EPI. The report states that every one-dollar increase in the minimum wage among workers in the bottom three earning brackets would result in a decrease in spending on government-assistance programs by about $5.2 billion.

Both liberals and conservatives agree that there are far too many poor people in America and that measures must be taken to improve their lives. However, as is the case with many issues, they disagree about the means by which to achieve this. Liberals, in general, feel that raising the minimum wage in America is the optimal solution to reduce spending on government programs for the poor, and, more importantly, to give the people in the United States that are struggling to get by on their current wages the resources to improve their lives.

Sources:

A Slightly Higher Minimum Wage Could Save Taxpayers Billions – ATTN

Senate Can’t Vote on $15 Minimum Wage, Parliamentarian Rules – NPR

Why America Needs a $15 Minimum Wage – Economic Policy Institute

For Liberals:

Viewpoint: Conservatives are generally against an increase in the minimum wage in the United States. Although they would like to see the improvement of the lives of America’s poor, many of them feel that a higher minimum wage will be more detrimental than beneficial for the country and its inhabitants.

Reasoning: Apart from the harmful effects on the economy that conservatives believe will come about due to a higher minimum wage, many argue that it is debatable whether raising it is even constitutional. In the 1923 Supreme Court case of Adkins v. Children’s Hospital of District of Columbia, the Court argued that increasing the minimum wage violates the freedom of contract guaranteed by the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution because it allows for the possibility that employers will be forced to pay their workers more than the workers deserve. Later, this ruling was reversed in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish in 1937, but many conservatives feel that the Supreme Court’s decision was correct the first time.

“To the extent that the sum fixed exceeds the fair value of the services rendered, it amounts to a compulsory exaction from the employer for the support of a partially indigent person, for whose condition there rests upon him no peculiar responsibility, and therefore, in effect, arbitrarily shifts to his shoulders a burden which, if it belongs to anybody, belongs to society as a whole” ~ Supreme Court,  Adkins v. Children’s Hospital of District of Columbia

Conservatives also have many economic reasons for opposing the raising of the minimum wage in the United States. Many conservatives feel that there is sufficient evidence to suggest that every time the minimum wage increases, jobs decrease. When businesses are forced to pay their entry-level employees at an increased rate, they will likely reduce the number of workers that they hire in order to save money. Thus, instead of helping minimum wage workers, a higher wage would cause many of the workers to become unemployed. When President Barack Obama suggested a $10.10 per hour minimum wage, the Congressional Budget Office predicted that, the action would put about 500,000 workers out of jobs.

Conservatives believe that a higher minimum wage will not only reduce the number of available jobs, but it will increase the cost of the product or service that companies are selling. If employers are forced to pay their employees more money, they must make up for it by charging more for the products or services they sell. Therefore, the poor will not be helped at all by a higher minimum wage because, while they may be making more, they will also be spending more. Many conservatives argue that a higher minimum wage would also be detrimental to the middle class. People in the middle-class are not paid minimum wage. Therefore, they would earn no more money due to an increased minimum wage than they did prior. Still, they will have to pay for the growing cost of goods and services. A higher minimum wage would thus not only fail at helping the poor, but it would also hurt one of the largest groups of people in America.

In addition to reduced government involvement, conservatives often promote a free market in which individuals are incentivized by competition. Many conservatives feel that a higher minimum wage would counteract this goal. When people are earning very little, they are more likely to take measures that would improve their situations. These include becoming educated in any way possible or putting more time and effort into their current occupations in order to ascend to a higher-paying job. Raising the minimum wage, many conservatives argue, would only make entry-level workers more complacent about their low-level positions.

Finally, conservatives feel that implementation strategies for raising the minimum wage are inherently flawed. Across the United States, different states have different costs of living. For example, on the basis of location alone, houses in Texas and Arkansas cost far less than those in New York City or San Francisco. Given this, conservatives wonder why the minimum wage is the same across the entire country if its intention is to pay entry-level workers the wages that they need to support themselves. Overall, conservatives believe that raising the minimum wage would be ineffective and would hurt America’s poor and middle classes. 

Sources:

9 Reasons Why Raising the Minimum Wage Is a Terrible Idea – Reason

Why Conservatives Oppose Raising the Minimum Wage – ThoughtCo