Minimum Wage

Alright, I am glad I get to do this debate. I shall make my arguments here, as requested:Firstly, I would like to point out Maslow's Heirarchy. This is a simple explanation on how people are motivated[1]. We each have a hierarchy of needs that ranges from "lower" to "higher." As lower needs are fulfilled there is a tendency for other, higher needs to emerge.[2] . The first one is Physiological. This encompasses Taylorism's idea that we can motivate people through pay[3]. If my opponent wishes to put forth a different form of motivating people, although I doubt it, as this is commonly accepted, please make your case for this as well.Also, as I am retaining the status quo, my opponent must give arguments to change it, but also the minimum wage is to affirm something, therefore I feel the burden of proof should be shared.Low wages are inadequate compensation for potential workers who are discouraged from entering the labour market. By making labour more attractive, more human resources will be used, thus raising national productivity. With a system where we give social welfare to those who are not working, we need to motivate people in order to get them to work and have a system which is productive. Now, some people will say that this is because of an inefficient market caused by minimum wage. I will refer them to the fact that 8% of people are currently unemployed living off of benefits[4], and yet 13% are in poverty. In America, the situation is the same.Governments have a duty to reduce poverty and so to raise the standard of living of all households. There is an absolute minimum quality of life, below which families should not fall. A minimum wage that had no effect on employment would be unnecessary, especially as the wage rate is not necessarily the main consideration of employers when hiring workers. People who employ others will use other methods, usually non-monetary methods in order to motivate others. State benefits would cost less - less need for benefit "top-ups" such as income support and council tax benefit- because those in work who are directly affected will see their gross weekly earnings rise. On top of this, the government would make more money, as earnings will rise, therefore people pay more in income tax and national insurance contributions.Finally, I will refer to an October 1999 report from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) who gave qualified support to the National Minimum Wage. Key points from their study included that "Not much evidence of a significant impact on employment or unemployment" and "No noticeable blip upwards in average earnings". The impact on inflation "unlikely to be significant". (No noticeable blip upwards in average earnings connotes that there was no massive turmoil or bother in the industries, as the minimum wage simply makes it unlawful to use near-slave labour to create products or services). Also, they state that in October 2011: (regarding the minimum pay rise)"This moderate increase strikes the right balance during a period of economic uncertainty. It means that workers on the minimum wage will not fall behind the rest of the workforce in terms of pay rises. A larger rise would have hit businesses hard and could have put many lower paid jobs on the line."In their 2002 survey, their primary conclusion is that: The national minimum wage (nmw), has made a real difference to the income of 1.2million employees. In addition, a great many other employees have benefited incompanies whose strategy is to pay a percentage above the rate. Our survey suggeststhat, in addition to those paying at the nmw level, a further 9% of companies follow astrategy of paying a percentage above the main rate. This should be conclusive. We have many many reasons to keep minimum wage, and it should not even be questionable that we should keep it.Thank you, and I look forwards to my opponent's arguments. For future reference, I will next be addressing the issue of minimum wage issues abroad.http://hale-business.wikispaces.com...;Daniels, V. (2004, March) from http://www.sonoma.edu...http://tutor2u.net...;http://www.ons.gov.uk...;(for reference, the inactivity rate is those neither classed as unemployed nor employed, or unemployed but not claiming benefits. If not mentioned, assume that statistics are on the UK.http://www.socialsituation.eu..., created Oct 2011) https://www.cia.gov...;(page created Sept 2007, it can be assumed that it is now higher)http://www.bbc.co.uk...;(I have left out the direct link to the October 1999 CBI study, as well as others, as they can be found on www.cbi.org.uk with other sources. However, I will give some key citations:http://www.cbi.org.uk...http://www.cbi.org.uk...;)