Paper Example on Minimum Wage: Protecting Workers from Unfair Pay

Minimum wages can be defined as the minimum amount of money an employer is supposed to employees for work performed during a specified period, which cannot be reduced by an individual or collective agreement. Minimum wages are set by various organizations such as competent authorities, a wage board, the statute, industrial courts, and a wage council. The main reason why minimum wages are set is to protect workers against unreasonable low pay. Setting minimum wages helps ensure that a person can live well by earning a minimum living wage. Raising the minimum wage has its advantages and disadvantages, but I believe that the minimum wage should be raised since it brings about more benefits to individuals and the economy of a court at large.

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One of the primary arguments for raising the minimum wage is that individuals will have higher earning, which will, in turn, improve the living standards of the minimum wage workers. The workers will be provided with an appropriate level of income, and thus they will be able to cope with the increasing cost of living. By raising the minimum wage, persons will be able to keep up with inflation. Due to the increasing cost of living, persons who earn minimum wages cannot keep up with inflation since their salaries are not increased despite the high cost of living. Therefore, they end up in poverty, which can be eradicated by raising the minimum wage.

Raising the minimum wages would help address the longstanding issue of gender and racial inequalities. Historically marginalized persons such as the minority races are subject to low wages. In most cases even if the minorities are employed especially the women, they are paid very low wages. in America, for instance, an African American woman with a college education is paid 15.58 dollars an hour whereas a Caucasian woman with the same qualification is paid 22.5 dollars per hour (Doyle, 2018). Raising the minimum wage would ensure that there is equality and thereby reducing racism. Even though raising the minimum wage will also benefit men, it would disproportionately affect women since they are more subject to minimum wages than men. This would help ensure that there is gender equality. For a long time, this has been an issue among other issues such as gender inequality, and one of the areas where the inequality arises is in wage payment. Therefore, raising the minimum wage would be a good way of reducing the gap and thus fighting inequality.

Another benefit of raising the minimum wage is that the economic growth of a country will be fueled. The extra amount of money paid to workers would be pumped back into the economy to cater to necessities such as food, clothes, and rent. It has been proven that increasing the purchasing power of individuals has positive effects on the entire economy. Raising the minimum wages does not imply that employers will have to cut jobs, but rather as consumer demand increases, more employers will be needed. Therefore, raising minimum wages might create new employment opportunities. The government would also reduce its spending on programs or help those in poverty since most of the individuals will sustain themselves, and therefore there will be no need for them to seek government assistance. As a result, the taxpayer will also be saved his money since they will not have to pay the high taxes that enable the government to support those in need.

Companies may also benefit from the raising f minimum wages since the employers will have the morale to work more effectively and efficiently since they will feel well compensated. Business with low wage workers experiences a problem in figuring out how their employees can be motivated to put their maximum effort in work. Increasing the employee’s morale by raising the minimum wages could translate to other benefits for the companies, such as increased employee retention and reduced hiring and training employees due to high employee turnover. Increasing minimum wages would also lead to a reduction in employees' absenteeism and, therefore, increase their productivity (Riley & Bondibene, 2017). The firms will, as a result, be able to make higher profits. Also, due to the increased minimum wages, individuals' purchasing power will increase, and thus companies will be able to sell more products and services. Thus increasing the minimum wages could benefit organizations.

Therefore, raising minimum wages has many benefits to individuals, businesses, and the economy at large. Some of the benefits include the act that would help a great deal in the fight against racism and gender inequality. Most low-income earners are usually from the minority group’s ad by raising the minimum wage; the gap will be reduced. It will also help businesses in that the employees will be more productive since there will be fewer turnovers, less absenteeism, and employees will be well compensated. There will also be economic growth since low-income earners' purchasing power will be increased, and thus there will be more spending, hence boosting the economy. The living standards of low-income earners will also be improved since they will easily afford the necessities. As a result, there will be a reduction in poverty. It is, therefore, clear that raising the minimum wage has many benefits to individuals, businesses, and the economy of a country.

References

Riley, R., & Bondibene, C. R. (2017). Raising the standard: Minimum wages and firm productivity. Labour Economics, 44, 27-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.labeco.2016.11.010Doyle, A. (2018). Pros and Cons of Raising the Minimum Wage. The-BalanceCareers. Com, updated on December, 20.