Minimum Wage Powerpoint

Currently, there are 30 million Americans living on $5.15 an hour, the federal minimum wage. In the legal sense, this bluntly refers to “the wage below which it is illegal to employ someone.” Full-time workers who earn $5.15 an hour, 40 hours a week, 52 weeks earn an income below the poverty threshold. The minimum wage debate recently arose because the United States Congress had not increased it since September 1997. Democrats currently want a $1.50 increase in the minimum wage over 18 months.

Good The better workers are employed. The minimum wage reduces poverty. An increase would help working families at the bottom income level. Some people who work for minimum wage never see an increase. There has been little or no effect on increasing unemployment when the minimum wage rises. Bad Most minimum wage earners are teenagers or are providing supplemental income to a primary wage earner Decreases amount of entry level positions Makes it hard for small businesses to survive Might result in a parallel increase in the prices of goods that are made by companies because of the increase in production costs, thus contributing to inflation in the long run.

Microeconomic analyses tells us that federally mandated minimum wage laws will lead to increased unemployment Businesses must cut workers or hours Reduce benefits such as health care, flexibility of hours, or vacation Elasticity of Labor Demand Excess Labor S Wo Wm L1 L0 L2 D

The EITC is a “refundable federal income tax credit for low-income working individuals and families” (Internal Revenue Service 3). A 10 percent increase in the maximum EITC refundable credit reduces poverty rates by 7 percent among full- time employed single moms (Henry Paulson, Treasury Department Briefing). The EITC affects many of the same actors that increasing the minimum wage does, but it impacts the U.S. government to a much greater degree. Increasing EITC programs reduce government revenue that could be used to help working class families in the form of social welfare programs. The EITC is a more efficient policy than the minimum wage at targeting low-income households because it is based on family income and not wage levels of a single, possibly supplementary worker.

Bernstein, Jared and Elaine Maag. “Tax Credits or Minimum Wages? We Need Both.” Economic Policy Institute. 15 Mar. 2007. 7 April 2007 http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_viewpoints_minwg_eic Bernstein, Jared and Isaac Shapiro. “Nine Years of Neglect: Federal Minimum Wage Remains Unchanged for Ninth Straight Year, Falls to Lowest Level in More than Half a Century.” Economic Policy Institute. 31 Aug. 2006. 23 Feb. 2007 <http://www.epinet.org/issuebriefs/227/ib227.pdf>. “ Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2006” 2 Mar. 2007. U.S. Department of Labor: Bureau of Labor Statistics.15. Apr. 2007. http://www.bls.gov/cps/minwage2006.htm “ Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Questions and Answers.” Internal Revenue Service: United States Department of the Treasury <http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/ 0,,id=96466,00.html#QA1>. Ettlinger, Michael. “Securing the Wage Floor: Indexing Would Maintain the Minimum Wage's Value and Provide Predictability to Employers”. EPI Briefing Paper #177. 12 Oct. 2006. Economic Policy Institute. Feb. 2007 < http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp177 > Fox, Liana. “Minimum Wage Increasingly Lags Poverty Line.” Economic Policy Institute. 31 Jan. 2007. 23 Feb. 2007 <http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm?id=2611>. Furman, Jason and Sharon Parrott. “A $7.25 Minimum Wage Would Be a Useful Step in Helping Working Families Escape Poverty.” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. 5 Jan. 2007. 5 April 2007 < http://www.cbpp.org/1-5-07mw.htm> Goodman, John C. and Richard B. McKenzie. “Saving Health Insurance from the Minimum Wage.” National Center for Policy Analysis. 28 July 2006. 7 April 2007 <http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba565/> Gorman, Linda. “Minimum Wages.” The Library of Economics and Liberty. 2002. 7 April 2007 < http://www.econlib.org/library/ENC/MinimumWages.html > "Health Insurance Coverage: 2005." U.S. Census Bureau . 19 Apr. 2007 <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/hlthins/hlthin05/hlthtables05.html> "It’s Easier Than Ever to Find Out If You Qualify for EITC." Internal Revenue Service . 19 Apr. 2007 <http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96406,00.html>. Lemos, Sara. “Minimum Wage Effects on Wages, Employment and Prices: Implications for Poverty Alleviation in Brazil.” Department of Economics University of Leicester. July 2005. 6 April 2007 < http://ideas.repec.org/p/lec/leecon/05-15.html> “ Minimum Wage: Frequently Asked Questions.” Apr. 2007. Economic Policy Institute. 15 Mar. 2007. <http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/issueguides_minwage_minwagefaq>

Minimum Wage Powerpoint

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