Just governments ought to require employers to pay a living wage

"Minimum wage laws are unethical because they introduce government force into employment relationships which should be based on voluntary trade between employers and employees." This statement here taken from Jaana Woiceshyn here states that the minimum wage is as it says unethical or not usual so here proving that minimum wage laws shall be abolished. This is why I stand in negation with the resolution: Resolved: Just governments ought to require that employers to pay living wage. For the ease of today"s debate, the following definitions will be offered from Black Law"s Dictionary: Living Wage- Income from working that is sufficient to pay the bills, buy enough food, handle emergencies, and stay off welfare. This definition was taken from Merriam Webster Dictionary: Just Government: a government that is based on moral right or good Ought- a suggestion of what should happen. The highest value in today"s debate is of Utilitarianism, which is the theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing total benefit and reducing suffering or the negatives. So to hold the value of Utilitarianism I offer the criterion of John Rawls" social contract of Justice as Fairness which is composed of two key elements. 1. Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with similar liberty for others. 2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that they are both: a) reasonably expected to be in everyone"s advantage and b) attached to positions and offices open to all. So this brings me to my first contention". Contention 1: Increase in the minimum wage would cost many jobs Most minimum wage workers are from above median income families. So, most of the people benefiting from the minimum wage are not the intended targets of the "anti-poverty" aspect of raising the minimum wage. As a jobs program, raising the minimum wage is a real loser. Congress raised the minimum wage 10.6% in July, 2009 (know of anyone else getting a raise then?). In the ensuring 6 months, nearly 600,000 teen jobs.Why? When you raise the price of anything, people take less of it, including labor. The unemployment rate for teens remains unacceptably high. Workers of all ages that are relatively unskilled are adversely impacted by this policy disappeared, even with nearly 4% growth in the economy, this compared to a loss of 250,000 jobs in the first half of the year as GDP growth declined by 4%. Contention 2: A Living Wage would force raised prices" increased-earnings-low-wage-workers-resulting-higher-minimum-wage> And the minimum wage"s negative effects do not stop at its perverse impact on the distribution of income. The minimum wage forces employers to substitute higher-wage workers or capital for low-wage labor, raising costs and therefore prices. The minimum wage perpetuates the notion that evil employers, rather than low skill, explain low wages. And the minimum wage pretends to fix a problem without imposing any costs, except that the costs are merely hidden, not avoided. So therefore, if we were to raise the minimum wage there would be no positive effect, there making that government unjust. So finally, the contentions I had brought onto you show that just governments would not be a just government if we were to implement the living wage. The implementation of the living wage would cause people to have to pay the same amount of money as they do now, and would not allow overall support.