Over the past few years, the question of whether or not the minimum wage should be raised has be widely disputed. I strongly believe that the wage should not be increased. In my high school speech class, we had to research the minimum wage and make a case on why or why not the wage should be increased. At the time, raising it seemed like a good idea, but now my views have changed. I decided to choose this topic because I wanted to see the argument from the other side of the spectrum. The minimum wage did not affect me at the time of the debate, but since then I have worked for a landscaping company that paid me minimum wage. For the most part, minimum wage jobs are meant for students working part-time and not to try to make a career out of. I think that I am qualified to write about this topic because I not only have done a bit of research on this topic before, but I am also a worker who has been affected by the minimum wage. Having an extra three to five dollars an hour would be great, but there would also be a good chance that my employer would not be able to afford to employ me anymore.

 "Inside the Minimum Wage Debate", an article written by Kate Rogers,  provides a good background on the current debate the United States faces. While the national government has stalled on making progress towards a minimum wage of $10.10 across the country, multiple states have taken the initiative and made their own. Some states have even made the minimum wage $15. The neutral article gives viewpoints for both sides of the argument, and also provides good insight on why the topic is so hotly debated. The author, Kate Rogers, is a writer for CNBC, which is a very credible news source. The fact that a credible source like CNBC employs Rogers means that she has proven herself to be a very accurate and fair writer. Apart from being a credible writer, Rogers also eliminates bias from her writing, which keeps the article very neutral. Although this secondary source does not have an abundance of information, the information present is very easy to build upon.

In the article, "Raise the Wage", written by President Barrack Obama's administration, clearly states that the minimum wage should be increased. By raising the the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, over 7 million workers would have the opportunity to escape poverty. Apart from raising the minimum wage for normal workers, the raising of the wage would also increase the pay for servers in the food industry. The minimum wage for servers is at $2.13 an hour, which has not changed since 1991. The article clearly takes the side of wanting to raise the minimum wage. This is probably one of the best sources to use because people who wrote this article would be the ones who would actually change the minimum wage. Since this was written by the White House staffers under Obama, the credibility is not something to be questioned here. I personally do not agree with the ideas behind the proposed change, but I thought that having a source that refuted my claim would be important to have.

In the article "Real Talk: The Potential Impact of a $15 Minimum Wage", the editorial staff of Business.com goes into detail about why the minimum wage should not be increased. Apart from explaining why it should not be increased, the article gives a good background about why the minimum wage debate is important. Although it gives a good background, the article definitely leans toward the idea that the wage should not be raised. Business.com is a very knowledgeable site when it comes to economics, so the credibility is very high. This primary source will be a good resource to back my claim that the wage should not be raised. I plan on using this source in my background, as well as in my confirmation.

The question of if the minimum wage should be raised or not will always be up for debate, and there always seems to be good reasons presented by both sides. Both sides can agree that the minimum wage is not enough to live on, but it raises the question that if minimum wage jobs should be careers, or just jobs for college kids. I do agree that there are certain people who are unable to work at a level higher than the minimum wage, but for the most part, the workers have the capability to achieve more. Raising the wage to $15 an hour would give workers little incentive to work towards a better career. 

