Cristina Cabrera Barrientos

Barrientos 1

Professor Connie S. Douglas

English 112 78
November 1, 2016
A Table Full of Controversy
A certain question pertains to the United States that is equivalent to the amount of
controversy that goes on in this country. This question is relevant to the whole working force in
the United States because of the amount of change that would result from the answer to this
question. The specific question is the following: should the current federal minimum wage be
raised? This specific question is complex and has many different aspects that have allowed it to
be a topic of controversy. These complexities include the aspect of the standard of living for
minimum wage workers and the aspect of the effects that it will have on the economy. The issue
includes many arguments or "voices" that contain logical appeals, ethical appeals, and emotional
appeals.
This issue has many different "voices" that speak loud and clear, but three of them are
louder than the rest. These three specific "voices" are the main ones that revolve around this
issue. The three main voices are the following: the minimum wage workers' voice that fights for
the minimum wage to be raised, the small businesses' voice that argues against the possibility of
raising the minimum wage, and government's voice that has little results to show in regards to
solving the issue due to the lack of agreement regarding the issue.
The voice of the minimum wage workers is a perspective that contains many different
arguments that advocate for a higher minimum wage. Though many perceive these arguments as
controversial because of a number of emotional appeals that are the basis of these arguments.
The reason that these arguments still hold strength is due to the number of actual testimonies that
these arguments provide and the few strong logical appeals provided. The arguments coming

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from the minimum wage workers highlight the positive outcomes of raising the minimum wage,
and they emphasize the negative effects of the insufficiency of the current minimum wage on the
standard of living of the minimum wage workers.
The minimum wage worker perspective focuses on the positive outcomes that will arise
from a rise in the current minimum wage. In the article Raising the Minimum Wage Will Help
the Poor, the author, Holly Sklar, focuses on the positive outcomes of raising the minimum
wage. It provides information about the weakening power of the economys consumers it states
that Consumer spending makes up seventy percent of our economy (Sklar). The voice of Holly
Sklar outlines in her article that inflation of the economy is weakening the consumers' buying
power. The article states that the inflation-adjusted minimum wage from the year of 1956 would
be eight dollars and three cents (Sklar). Holly Sklar uses this information to show how the
consumer's buying power has decreased due to the economy's inflation and as a result of a raise
in the current minimum wage the consumer's buying power would grow stronger and boost the
economy.
The minimum wage workers voice goes on to state that the current minimum wage does
not provide a decent standard of living. In the article "The Significance of the Living Wage for
US Workers in the Early Twenty-First Century," the author Victor G. Devinatz provides data
from a report from the Wider Opportunities for Women Organization. The report states that a
single woman with a child would need $30,000 a year to have a decent standard of living, and
then Devinatz states further that a single worker working on the minimum wage full time would
make $15,080 (Devinatz). Devinatz emphasizes that the current minimum wage does not provide
a decent standard of living. The author provides objective arguments that advocate for a higher
minimum wage that would improve the minimum wage workers' standard of living.

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The second voice regarding the issue of the minimum wage is the voice of the small
businesses that would be affected because of the incapability to sustain workers at a higher
minimum wage. This voice contains strong arguments opposing a rise in the minimum wage. The
arguments of the small business owners are focused on the ineffectiveness of past minimum
wages. The authors Joseph J. Sabia and Richard V. Burkhauser focus on this argument in their
article, "Minimum Wages and Poverty: Will a $9.50 Federal Minimum Wage Really Help the
Working Poor?" In the article, the authors provided data gathered from the March Current
Population Survey. The March Current Population survey concluded that the wage increase
between 2003 and 2007 showed no evidence of poverty decreasing (Sabia & Richard). In
addition to this information, the author goes on to state that the survey also concluded that
raising the minimum wage from nine dollars and fifty cents per hour would only affect eleven
percent of the working population (Sabia & Richard). The author then goes on to compare the
percentage to the fifteen percent of the population that was affected by the previous wage
increase in 2007 (Sabia & Richard). The comparison of the percentages demonstrates that it is
affecting a smaller amount of the population. The authors of the article focus on emphasizing
that the previous wage increase did not accomplish the goal of reducing poverty proving the
ineffective outcomes of a future wage increase.
The voice of the small businesses continues to provide more arguments against a raise in
the minimum wage. In the article "Drowning the poor in excessive wages: the problems of the
minimum wage law " by the authors Robert Schuldt, Davis Woodall and Walter E. Block, the
authors focus on how the minimum wage laws are disabling potential workers from acquiring
jobs. The authors define productivity of workers as being the basis for an employer to hire a
person (Schuldt, Woodall & Block). The authors focus on how productivity should define a

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worker's wage, and how the minimum wage laws are establishing a wage too high for some lowskilled workers. The authors propose that the solution to this issue is to rid the workforce of a
minimum wage altogether. The drastic solution that the author proposes shows the drastic
measures that small business owners would prefer to take to be able to keep the low-skilled
workers. The arguments provided show that the employers pay their employees based on their
skills and these minimum wage laws are keeping low-skilled workers from acquiring jobs
(Schuldt, Woodall & Block). Both of these articles provide only a few of the arguments that the
small businesses use to fight against raising the minimum wage.
The final voice is the perspective of the government. This voice also holds a large amount
of criticism due to the lack of action taken to control the issue. The government is a voice that is
by itself its own controversy due to the fact that it is split between the political parties. The
Democratic and the Republican parties conflict each other when it comes to the issue of the
federal minimum wage. This voice holds a vast amount of criticism because of the policies it
takes on this issue and also because of the small amount of action it has taken in regards to this
issue.
The policies that the government employs in regards to this issue are many. It has a
certain template that the solution has to fit in. In the article Reframing the Minimum-Wage
Debate, the author David R. Howell focuses on stating that the no job loss policy that the
government takes on the issue is wrong. The author provides that the government sets a standard
of no job loss for the issue, and it implements the standard for every minimum wage hike
(Howell). The author states that this particular standard is inefficient. It also states that this policy
is inconsistent due to the fact that this policy does not apply to foreign investments or the
adoption of new technologies or other issues (Howell). This governmental voice that implements

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a zero job loss standard is cautious, but the critics see this policy as malicious and a way to avoid
raising the minimum wage (Howell). The governments voice also includes the political parties
that represent the government. The voices of these parties are heard loud and clear because they
represent the public. The Democratic Party holds a stance that wants to raise the minimum wage
(Lillis). The only aspect of the issue that the Democratic Party disagrees upon is how much the
minimum wage should be raised. The Democratic Party disagrees due to the fact of job loss. The
Democratic Party focuses on the idea that the new minimum wage should avoid as much job loss
as possible, and they disregard the amount of workers that would benefit from a raise in the
minimum wage (Lillis). In the other hand the Republican Party, being the conservative party,
agrees that the minimum wage should not be raised. It has constantly been opposed to worker
unions that have advocated for higher minimum wages in the past (McCutcheon). The party also
strongly disagrees with the formation of worker unions and their goals of raising the minimum
wage (McCutcheon). The political parties that play a central role in the government create a
conflictive perspective and lead to a standstill in the government when it comes to the minimum
wage issue.
In conclusion, the minimum wage debate contains many different voices, and new voices
evolve from it rapidly. The idea that a minimum wage hike is necessary, that comes from
minimum wage workers, continues to get stronger due to the standard of living that it is
providing currently. Then there is the idea that the minimum wage is not being geared towards
the correct group of people, and it should not be raised that comes from small businesses and
growing at the same rate providing information that supports that the minimum wage is not
meeting the goals it is set out to accomplish. Then finally, there is the government that the public
criticizes for the perspective it takes on the issue centering its focus on the idea that a no job loss

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policy should always be implemented and that raising the minimum wage should produce the
least amount of job loss. These voices only give a small amount of controversy that involves
itself in the issue, and these voices only provide three perspectives out of this complex issue.

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Works Cited
Devinatz, Victor G. "The Significance of the Living Wage for US Workers in the Early TwentyFirst Century." Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal 25.2 (2013): 12534. ProQuest. Web. 1 Oct. 2016.
Howell, David R. "Refraiming the minimum-wage debate: why 'no job loss' is the wrong
standard for setting the right wage floor." The American Prospect 27.3 (2016): 48+.
Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 14 Sept. 2016.
Lillis, Mike. "Dems divided on minimum wage: leading Democrats don't agree on how much the
nation's federal minimum wage should be increased; Republicans say bumping it to $15
would cost millions of jobs." Hill 28 July 2015: 1+.Opposing Viewpoints in Context.
Web. 20 Oct. 2016.
McCutcheon, Chuck. "Unions at a Crossroads." CQ Researcher 7 Aug. 2015: 673-96. Web. 20
Oct. 2016.
Sabia, Joseph J., and Richard V. Burkhauser. "Minimum Wages and Poverty: Will a $9.50
Federal Minimum Wage really Help the Working Poor?" Southern Economic
Journal 76.3 (2010): 592-623. ProQuest. Web. 26 Sep. 2016.
Schuldt, Robert, Davis Woodall, and Walter E. Block. "Drowning the Poor in Excessive Wages:
The Problems of the Minimum Wage Law." Humanomics 28.4 (2012): 25869. ProQuest. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.
Sklar, Holly. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Help the Poor." How Can the Poor Be
Helped? Ed. Jennifer Dorman. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. At Issue. Rpt. from
"Raising the Minimum Wage in Hard Times." Let Justice Roll Living Wage Campaign,
2009. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 26 Sept. 2016.