Minimum Wage Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Minimum Wage - Essay Example Minimum wage increases as only a short-term benefit to the poor. Prices will quickly adjust for this increase as companies raise prices to make up for the increased wages they must pay. They need to keep profits the same or raise them...so a rise in employee wages will equate to a rise in prices. Supporters of living wage laws say that the current minimum wage simply does not keep up with the cost of living. Allowing employers to pay less than a living wage is just cost-shifting to the public at large, forcing the government and private charities to fill in the gap between low pay and survival. Many economists supports that the minimum wage is a matter of social justice which helps reduce exploitation and ensures that workers can afford basic necessities of living. Supporters deny claims of causal links between the minimum wage and adverse impacts upon employment, and suggest that in any event, greater social benefit derives from the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wages of employees increases the economic efficiency of the economy where labor markets exhibit a high degree of market power on the part of employers. As Kash explains, (Montag 51) "The minimum wage goes up in one place, but doesn't change right next door.