The argument surrounding whether or not to raise the minimum wage is a popular topic in today's society, especially with the presidential election occurring later this year. Several candidates have given their positions regarding it, thus making it an important topic for voters and citizens to consider. Whether or not to raise the minimum wage is a particular question that does not have a simple answer to it. The answer requires a deep understanding of both sides of the argument as well as an understanding of the impression that the minimum wage has on the economy as a whole. While both sides of the argument of whether or not to raise the minimum wage have flaws, raising the minimum wage is the most logical conclusion for the overall benefit of the economy and society at large. The federal minimum wage should be raised based on the the history of minimum wage over time, the reasoning behind the minimum wage, and because raising it is the best decision to benefit society and the employees that receive it both today and in the future.

With the subject of possibly raising the minimum wage, it is imperative to know the general history of the minimum wage in America. The minimum wage was originally brought about in Congress through the Fair Labor Standards Act, also known as the FLSA, in 1938. The minimum wage was started due to the recognition that workers did not have the power to bargain their wages. Setting this standard wage floor allowed the employers to not have as much "monopsony power over workers." Starting in the 1960's and 1970's however, minimum wage began to be looked at through an economic standpoint. This caused the minimum wage to begin being tested with data to decipher its true effects in a variety of areas. These areas included teen employment, which favored that raising the minimum would slightly decrease teen employment. Now, recent studies conclude that increasing the minimum wage has no meaningful effect on the employment rate. In summary, this history proves the point that raising the minimum wage has not caused tremendous problems in the past, and therefore should be raised now as part of today's economic progression, thus further allowing workers to get properly compensated for their hard work (Krueger). 

The subject of the federal minimum wage in America comes with a purposeful array of certain facts that help favor raising the wage. Drew DeSilver, a contributor with the Pew Research Center, provides quick and intriguing facts about the minimum wage overall in his informative article that are incredibly important to note. The facts presented in his article come from findings provided by Pew Research Center. According to research provided by the Pew Research Center that, with the correct adjusted inflation, the minimum wage in 1968 was worth $8.54 in 2014 value dollars. DeSilver also notes that almost half of the hourly workers that are working at or below the minimum are below the age of twenty-four. While the federal minimum wage stays at a non-livable level, twenty-nine states plus the District of Columbia have set their own minimum wage higher than the federal one. Nearly two dozen cities and counties have even set a higher minimum wage for their respective areas. This is mainly due to the higher cost of living in those respective areas. In addition, it is imperative to add that thirty percent of all hourly workers are near minimum wage. Finally, it is important to note that the food and restaurant industry is the largest employer for minimum wage workers in America. Despite some of the workers receiving tips while on the job, tips are not guaranteed and therefore cannot be counted on as proper income by a worker that is receiving it. 

Even though there is evidence leaning toward raising the minimum wage, it is important to still consider opposing arguments to the subject. John Goodman, a contributor for the Town Hall website, provides an intriguing opposing argument to the possibility of raising the national minimum wage. He argues that wages in the marketplace are due to general competition. An employer must pay employees for the work they are worth, but not pay them too much to where it would decrease profits detrimentally. In the economy, when there is a loss, there is a gain, and vice versa. With this in mind, Goodman argues that with an increase in the minimum wage, there will be a decrease in other benefits given to workers. These decreased benefits include health care, assistance, and other important benefits. However, these benefits can become not necessary if the employee is receiving a higher wage, allowing them to afford benefits on their own.

In response to opposing arguments, the arguments for raising the minimum wage usually tend to win the disagreement. In the article by John T Harvey, a contributor for the Forbes online website, there is a debate over whether the minimum wage increase is would be a "drag" on the cost of employers or if it would be beneficial due to the customers' increased income. He points out the fact that after several studies, there is proof that a change in the minimum wage has almost no effect on employment. Both sides of the argument seem to mutually offset each other. Overall though, the minimum wage law is not intended to increase or decrease the unemployment rate. The law is in place to protect those that receive it so they are not paid unfairly. This is an important point that needs to be paid attention to during the argument. 

It is no secret that several sources support the idea that the minimum wage must be raised to a level that is livable and logical in today's economy. Inflation has caused the cost of living to exceed the funds that being employed as a minimum wage worker provides. John Komlos, a contributor for PBS and a columnist, claims that, "even if one can work full-time, after state and federal taxes and Social Security and Medicare deductions, one is lucky to retain $225 a week or $12,000 a year, which is precisely the threshold of poverty for a single person." This is a shocking claim that rings true to millions of Americans today. It is outrageous that a country such as the United States has such a low minimum wage that workers can not even live off of. He also states that, "if adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage of 1968 would be $10.90 today. That is a whopping reduction of the federal minimum wage by a third. It's worth noting that the unemployment rate was 3.6 percent in 1968 with a higher real minimum wage." This claim compares the fact that even though our rate is higher, it does not mean that it is logical and useful for today's workers. Finally, he claims that, "The Economist estimates that the minimum wage should be about $12 an hour in the U.S based on our GDP. That makes a lot of sense, especially because $10.90 would put it just where it was in 1968." Therefore, raising the minimum wage to about $12 would be the most logical solution according to his findings.

Within this argument of raising the minimum wage or not, there is the controversy surrounding the actual effects of minimum wage on the employees that receive it. Several theories exist that contradict the view that raising the minimum wage is the correct direction of action. It is well known that there is the common theory that a higher minimum wage will lead to job cuts. The other common theory among those that disagree with increasing the minimum wage is that raising the minimum wage would lead to higher prices. This supposed increase in prices due to the increased wage would perpetually decrease the demand for labor. Lastly, it has been researched and analyzed that there is only a small percentage drop in employment if the minimum wage is raised. However, this small drop in employment needs to be compared to the value of the increase in pay for those that keep their jobs as one can easily be a greater benefit than the lesser loss (David Neumark).

In a particular case study of New York State's increased minimum wage, there is evidence that provides the necessary means to further question whether or not the effects of minimum wage are always necessarily small. While this study was conducted and written about by Joseph Sabia, Richard Burkhauser, and Benjamin Hansen in 2012, the general evidence of effects is still relevant to today's minimum wage argument. Overall, the article and research case study does not find evidence that an increase in minimum wage provides immediate change in the long-run employment effects. The long-run employment effects include job loss and loss of shifts given. 

Within conversations in the media, several sides are being taken since the theory that possibly raising the minimum wage to a whopping $15 an hour has been introduced by a presidential candidate. Jeannette Wicks-Lim joins in the conversation that surrounds this current controversy concerning raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. She points out that while several cities such as Los Angles and Seattle have raised their own city wide minimum to $15, this does not mean that doing so nationwide is the correct option. It is necessary to question this large minimum wage hike due to the possibility of whether or not it is reasonable economically. The biggest concern coming from those against the wage hike is that it would leave workers worse off due to job cuts. In the end, it is believed that such a raise would not provide detrimental consequences as long as it is integrated slowly as opposed to all at once. 

It is easy to talk about the fact that raising the minimum wage benefits society, but seeing an example of how it directly affects the individual Americans that receive it is important to note. CNN Money conducted an interview with a low wage worker named Safiyyah Cotton. The interview highlights how living as a minimum wage employee forces her to not have the proper means to live and thus causing her to seek government assistance. She is a twenty-two year old single mother with a one year old son. She works for $7.50 an hour at McDonald's which equates to $240 every two weeks and only $6,240 a year. She works there because that is one of the few employers she can be hired at due to her past misdemeanors. In the past, she was caught stealing clothes and diapers for her son due to her lack of money to pay for them. Working at McDonald's has not been the best experience for her. The managers at her location do not seem to care about reaching the employee's minimum weekly hours. This sometimes causes her to be let off her shift too early and not allowing her to get enough hours that could help support her and her child. Do to such a low wage and her cut down hours, Safiyyah is forced to seek government help through funding with food stamps, the Child Care and Development Fund, and Federal Housing Assistance. On average, Americans that are on food stamps receive $125 per month per person which equates to only $4.17 a day per person. Overall, food stamps and food assistance is costing the federal government nearly $76 billion a year. Safiyyah herself receives $216 each month which translates to $2,592 per year. Even with getting money to help pay for food, she is forced to make every dollar count by not buying fresher and healthier food since it is guaranteed not to last as long. As far as the Child Care and Development Fund, she receives $140 every week to help pay for her son's daycare while she works. This program serves 1.45 million children nationwide costing $8.6 billion per year. Since McDonald's does not provide benefits for their employees, she is provided healthcare from Medicaid which helps over 65 million Americans. While having insurance does help her, her low income forces her to sometimes choose the cheapest healthcare option as opposed to the most beneficial one. This even includes not going to the doctor unless it is a dire emergency. Finally, she receives $125 per month for housing assistance from the government since her low wage does not allow her to successfully pay rent each month. Housing assistance from the federal government serves 4.5 billion families receiving low incomes which in turn costs the government $40 billion each year. She hopes that her hard work and sacrifice will allow her son to have an easier life with more opportunities. If hard working employees like Safiyyah were paid a higher wage, they wouldn't need to rely so much on government funding that is only putting the  government further into debt. With employers like McDonald's making over $4.8 billion a year, they can easily afford to provide a higher and livable wage for their employees. 

As expressed with the example of a low-wage worker interviewed by CNN Money, it is especially important to highlight the effects of minimum wage on the health care insurance industry and those that receive the health care. In the Journal of the American Medical Association, author Andrew Bindman wrote an informative article about the intriguing effects that a low minimum wage has on the ability to live a healthy lifestyle especially concerning health care. It is noted by specific calculations that a federal hourly minimum wage increase from $7.25 to $10 would allow a full time employee's annual salary to be increased by approximately $5000 which would make an astounding difference on the employees' ability to afford everyday necessities. It is imperative to note that if a household is not able to qualify for Medicaid, a raised minimum wage would allow them to be able to buy health insurance through an independent company. In addition, an analysis to raise the state of California's minimum wage to $13 an hour "suggested that it would reduce smoking, obesity, and related chronic diseases, as well as lead to lower rates of depression and bipolar illness," (Bindman). Therefore, it is necessary to consider that raising the minimum wage has a positive effect in terms of health care coverage as well. 

With such a deep history of the minimum wage being raised due to increasing inflation, it is clear to see that raising the minimum wage is the correct decision. The meaning behind the minimum wage is to allow the employees to be properly compensated and the necessity for it is to have a wage that allows the employees to receive a healthy income. While several sources have different calculations as to how the minimum wage used to be set at during the late 1960s in translation to today's inflation dollars, all the calculations agree that the wage was higher then than it is now. Hopefully, lawmakers will take notice of the need to raise the federal minimum wage and that voters will support a presidential candidate that also recognizes this necessity. Doing this will allow proper progression of America's economy and will allow for a better life for low-wage workers across the nation going into the future. 

