Should Minimum Wage Be Raised To 15 Dollars

Highly respected former US President Theodore Roosevelt was once quoted in saying, “Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground. ” His words of wisdom advise us to be practical and generous. However, they also warn us to be careful about where our ambitions lead us. Raising the minimum wage would be practical and generous to those in need while the ambitions remain simple and justly helpful. It is because I agree with the imperative duty charged to us by Roosevelt that I must affirm the resolution. Affirmative Value Premise: the most important valueis Societal Welfare. Societal Welfare is defined by the Business Dictionary as: the well being of an entire society. Affirmative Judging Criterion: whichever side best upholds Pragmatism should win the debate. Black’s Law Dictionary defines Pragmatism as: following a practical approach. Contention One: A living wage hosts vital economic benefits Subpoint A: Empirical evidence suggests that a living wage bolsters the economy and doesn’t result in unemployment. Contrary to popular belief, a living wage does not cause unemployment rates to increase. Instead, it has shown to bolster the economy and provide innumerable benefits. Erin Weir, Canadian economist, Phoenix-Star, August 31, 2012 “Benefits of a fair minimum wage are obvious. It means more much-needed income in the hands of low-paid workers. Increasing the wages of workers at the lowest end of the income spectrum would also add to consumer spending in Saskatchewan, helping local businesses and other participants in the economy. More than any other group, low-income earners spend their money in their communities. For example, they are far less likely to make foreign investments or to travel abroad. IncreasingSaskatchewan'sthe minimum wage would bolster theprovincial economy. Of course, opponents of a higher minimum wage argue that it would reduce employment. Ironically, the same conservative politicians and business lobbyists who characterize employment as being vulnerable to any improvement in the minimum wage often brag about the strength of Saskatchewan's job market and complain about "labour shortages. " Better wages would help encourage more people to enter the workforce. Claims that minimum wages reduce employment have no empirical support. Economics professors from the universities of Massachusetts (Amherst), North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and California (Berkeley) recently compared adjacent U. S. counties along the borders of states with different minimum wages. Their conclusion, published in the November 2010 edition of The Review of Economics and Statistics,was that: "For cross-state contiguous counties, we find strong earnings effects and no employment effects of minimum wage increases. " Page 1 In other words, boosting the minimum wage succeeded in raising pay without reducing employment, even when neighbouring jurisdictions maintained a lower minimum. We know from Saskatchewan's history that there is no contradiction between a strong minimum wage and a strong job market. During Allan Blakeney's premiership, this province enjoyed Canada's highest minimum wage and lowest unemployment rate. But even if raising the minimum wage reduced employers' demand for labour, it would still benefit employees. The vast majority of minimum-wage work is in areas such as fast food and retail, which have variable shifts and hours. If these employers want less labour, they cut back hours rather than lay off workers. In reality, a fastfood restaurant would likely require the same amount of labour since it could not substitute robots or other capital equipment for workers. ”Some people believe that welfare pays them more than a minimum wage job, so they simply live off of government funds. A higher minimum wage could dispell such thoughts. Furthermore, a living wage wouldn’t harm employment. Stacy Brustin, Associate Professor, Columbus School of Law, Georgetown Journal on Poverty Law and Policy, Fall 2012 “Proponents of minimum and living wage increases argue that such actions lead to increased job growth and stronger consumer spending. Opponents of such initiatives argue thatsuch increases will lead to job losses which would work to the detriment of low-wageresident and nonresidentparents. However, recent research suggests that minimum wage increases do not cause job losses, even during periods of recession and high unemployment. These findings should spur legal services advocates and policy analysts focused on improving child support collection to develop broader strategies, including advocating for minimum wage increases. ” Subpoint B: A higher wage ensures quality jobs Currently, many jobs are considered of poor quality. This stems from either low pay or an insufficient working environment. A higher wage can solve these problems. Further, a higher wage can be labeled as a "living" wage, one sustainable for life. Team of Economists, University of Wisconsin, “Local Living Wage Ordinances,” November 2013 “A living wage ordinance [higher wages] ensures that jobs supported by local taxpayers pay a decent wage and that companies benefitting from taxpayer-supported projects or contracts pay their workers enough to make ends meet. ”Better jobs would not only benefit employees, but it would also give taxpayers consolation that their money is going to provide for profitable and sustainable occupations. These jobs are completely plausible as well. Ken Jacobs, Chairman, Center for Labor Research and Education, University of California, November 2010 “The evidence demonstrates that raising job standards does not reduce the number of jobs in a city. This means that job growth does not have to come at the expense of job quality. ”These good jobs don’t have to reduce job quality, as a higher wage can provide for both. Contention Two: Inflation is not a reasonable counter to higher wages. Many people make the argument that a higher wage will cause the inflation of goods. While this may be true, the percent of inflation is minute when compared to the benefits these wages will provide. Jeff Chapman and Jeff Thompson, research associates, John Hopkins University, Economic Impact of Living Wages, 2006 “In 1999, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) published the third study of the Baltimore experience. Analyzing contracts that could be directly compared before and after the implementation of the ordinance, the EPI research associates from John Hopkins University found that the nominal contract costs for the city rose just 1.2%-- lower than inflation during the same period-- and concluded that the “budgetary impact of the living wage has, to date, been insignificantDespite the overall real decline in contract costs during the period under there was a range of results for different contract types. Some contracts experience moderate price decreases, while others grew considerably. The overall price for the heavily affected janitorial contracts, for example, rose 16.6% in nominal terms, with specific contracts seeing price increases range from less than 1% to over 50%. The overall budgetary impact of these contracts, however, was negligible cost increases. in other contract areas were more modest. The EPI study’s overall conclusion was that “the widely voiced fear that the living wage ordinance implementation would place intolerable strains on the city’s budget have not yet materialized. ”While there may be slight inflation, the degree to which prices increase would be of no merit when compared to the increase of wage individuals would be receiving. Individuals are then able to help the economy because they have more money to spend on corporate products. Inflation happens as it is, and the minimum wage can’t keep pace. However, a living wage could assist individuals negatively affected by current inflation. Contention Three: The implementation of a higher wage will uphold Societal Welfare and is a Pragmatic approach to solving societal problems. Senator Bernie Sanders, PoliticusUSA, December 30th, 2013 “The national minimum wage is seven and a quarter an hour. I think most people understand that’s a starvation wage. Individuals can’t live on it. Families can’t live on it. ”The current minimum wage is not sustainable for human life. Introducing a higher minimum would allow individuals and families to afford their necessities. Furthermore, the results of such a wage would be beneficial to society. This wage can bolster the economy and create more jobs, and is a pragmatic approach to solving for poverty, unemployment, and wage complications. Furthermore, outsourcing and poverty are current societal problems to which a higher wage is a pragmatic solution. Rachel Harvey, Bachelor of Science in Foreign Science, Georgetown University, University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy, 2003 “The living wage movements responds to the trend of outsourcing, in which governments contract out government services to private firms. The private firms pay lower wages in order to have the lowest bid and win the government contract. Thus, by contracting out work to private companies, the city saves money at the expense of low-wage workers. Living wage advocates reason that, because low-wage workers’ wages fall so far below the poverty level, these works must turn to the government for support. However, with a living wage, these workers could have supported themselves. The living wage campaign aims to halt this process and prevent workers from living in poverty and having to rely on the government programs in order to survive. "Consequently, higher wages would combat these issues, benefiting the well being of low-wage workers. The living wage can be utilized as a “cure-all” and pragmatically benefit the society. It is for these reasons and many more I would politely urge an PRO ballot in this debate.