There are several topics in today's society that plague both American politicians and citizens alike. One of these topics that is especially important going into the 2016 Presidential elections is whether or not the minimum wage should be raised. This is both a controversial and arguable topic that is relevant today. The answer to the question of whether or not raising the minimum wage impacts society too negatively requires extensive research into the history of minimum wage, an understanding of the reasoning behind minimum wage, and how raising it may affect society today and into the future. Due to its popularity in politics today, I am interested in exploring research into this question and providing an adequate answer. 

This question intrigues my personal views because I personally am a minimum wage worker. While I am not currently employed, all of my previous employments have paid minimum wage or slightly above the wage. Having this experience of being a minimum wage worker allows me to be properly qualified to write about the subject due to first hand knowledge and experience. While not all workers put the maximum amount of effort into their work, I always did. The low minimum wage does not allow me to be paid fairly for the amount of work that I was expected to accomplish. With the minimum wage at $7.25 an hour, one hour's worth of work is less than most meals at an average restaurant. That fact is an outrage. It must be raised to a reasonable amount that workers can rationally live off of. 

The first source to be used for my project is an article by Alan B. Krueger entitled "The History of Economic Thought on the Minimum Wage." This source is from a trusted scholarly and economic journal. It provides several important facts about minimum wage along with a quick seventy-five-year history of minimum wage from an economic point of view. In summary, the author argues that raising the minimum wage is a part of history and a naturally changing economy. The article values research and facts to prove its point. It is interested in proving that raising the minimum wage is necessary due to inflation and that it is a natural progression of an economy. It began with quoting President Obama's February 2013 State of the Union address about raising the minimum to $9.00, which caused him to be intrigued with the idea that minimum wage has come full circle. While the author does provide a bias, he also provides reasonable facts and thoughtful research. Since this is article from an economic journal, the article provides an economic standpoint. The article appeared in the Google Scholar search, making the author a credible and trustworthy source. 

The second source being used is an article by Drew DeSilver titled "5 Facts About the Minimum Wage." This source is from a trusted research website. This informative article provides five, well thought out facts about the minimum wage including the point that twenty-nine states have already set their own minimum wages above the national one, proving that it is due time to raise the federal minimum. The article is simply providing some brief facts about the minimum wage, but these facts can be used in an argument for raising the federal minimum wage. The interests are to inform the reader about facts concerning the minimum wage in a straightforward and understandable manor. The author, Drew DeSilver, is a senior writer for the Pew Research Center which is where this article was posted. This makes him credible due to his professional ability to present facts that were researched by the center in an interesting and informative way. 

In this project, the third source being used is "The Effects of Minimum Wage on Employment" by David Neumark. The article is also from an economic journal. The article begins by presenting the controversy surrounding how raising the minimum wage would actually effect the employees that receive it. It presents the main idea that raising the minimum wage will lead to higher prices and a small amount of job cuts. The values presented exemplify the opposing argument, despite agreeing that more research is needed to see just how badly the possible negatives will be compared to the positives for raising the minimum wage. The article presents several numbers and facts along with the claims, but agrees that more research is needed. The author, David Neumark, is a professor of economics and the Director of the Center for Economics & Public Policy at the University of California, Irvine. This makes him a credible source and qualified to write on this topic. He does offer a bias of opposing the raising of the minimum wage. 

This project will answer this question of whether or not to raise the minimum wage in the best method possible by presenting a personal view, a historical context, the opposing argument, and the concluding argument that is in favor of raising minimum wage. Answering the question using this method makes the topic arguable. It is also arguable due to the abundance of evidence for both sides of the argument. However, this project will seek to prove that raising the federal minimum wage if the most reasonable and beneficial conclusion. The opposing side argues that raising the minimum wage will cause job loss, however this job loss would be small. It also argues that raising the minimum would cause even greater inflation. While the opposing arguments do not shake my personal views, the reasoning behind the arguments is intriguing to consider. I believe raising the minimum wage is the best option overall and I will argue that in my project. The research question needs no revision due to its preciseness and clarity. Both parts of the question will be linked together in the conclusion. 

