Tepox

Fernando Tepox
Lynn Kilpatrick
English 2010
Academic Essay

The affects of raising the minimum wage

The minimum wage in the United States stands at $7.25 per hour.
There has been arguments that the minimum wage is not a sustainable
amount of money to live off. With money on the line the American people are
pushing towards higher pay and has become one of the main focus points in
this upcoming election. Many argue that raising the minimum wage will
boost our economy and decrease unemployment but those who are against
raising the minimum wage counter argue by saying it would increase
unemployment and have ripple effects in the economy.
Norm Brodsky states that when it comes to talking about the minimum
wage, the reason is simple math. The question raised when talking about
minimum wage is, how can raising the minimum wage be a bad thing? An
article written by Norm Brodsky who is a successful owner of various casual
restaurants in New York argues against raising the minimum wage. Brodsky
brings good points to the table and uses his own restaurant Kobeyaki as an
example. The situation in New York stands as the following, the minimum
wage is $9.00 per hour and the governor wants to raise it to $15.00 per hour
as soon as he can. Brodsky argues that his restaurants will no longer be

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viable if labor cost rise above 35%. Then Brodsky goes on by adding ripple
effects, he is aware that consumers have a limit on what they will pay for his
food before they go looking somewhere else. Brodsky cant afford to loose his
clients by raising the prices on his food so he is stuck choosing whats more
important his clients or his workers. Brodsky cant afford to loose his clients
so he has a plan in mind that will unfortunately cut back on workers but is
the most reasonable choice if the minimum wage were to be raised. Brodsky
believes that Human contact is important to building customer relationships,
but if the minimum wage were to be raised his plan of having automated
orders will come in affect. Brodsky would cut back on workers taking orders
and would have the automated services take the orders instead. Brodsky
believes that his restaurant Kobeyaki is not the only restaurant considering
this option if the minimum wage were to be raised nationally and he states
that Those who say raising the minimum wage will have no effect on
employment are dreaming.
Those who are in favor of raising the minimum wage state that it would
even out the playing field in the job market and make the economy grow.
The news article written by Gabriel Bistrol in the San Diego Business Journal
takes the positive perspective on raising the minimum wage and argues its
points. Reasons for pushing for a minimum wage raise is that it would bring
equality and economy growth. Economist James Galbraith states that
minimum wage raise would raise the income of a staggering 28 million
Americans. It would even out the job market to those minority groups and

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would boost the moral of those who are getting the gains. Bistrol then moves
to another important point, he moves on to the economic growth. Bistrol
states that economist believe that by raising the minimum wage, people
would have more money to spend. People would have the money to buy a
car, a house, and other major purposes. Bistrol claims that this would bring
unemployment down because there would be more demand of workers
because there would be more demand on supply making more jobs available.
This would affect the middle class who makes below $10.00 per hour
because they are the ones working who want change. This affect according
to Bistrol will grease the wheels of our economy and get it moving in a
measurable way.
The difficult part is whether to raise the minimum wage or keep it at a
low. Brodsky has a plan which you can already see in the fast food industry. I
walked into a McDonalds and they had a computer screen taking orders.
Brodsky argued that if the minimum wage were to be raised this would be
the obvious way to go for his restaurant. As we see technology evolving right
in front of our eyes, do we just keep our mouth shut and accept the pay we
are getting or do we stand up and risk our jobs being taken by computers?
This idea then becomes the total opposite of what Bistrol had argued for.
Bistrol wrote in the San Diego Business Journal that It would even out the
playing field in the job market and make the economy grow. If it were to even
out the playing field then in theory everyone would have an equal chance of

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getting a job but what if the minimum wage were to be risen and the
restaurants went to computers because it would be less costly.
Looking through articles it was very hard to find unbiased articles. The
articles were either all against or for raising the minimum wage. The solution
I came up with while reading this articles was that yes raise the minimum
wage to maybe $ 9.00 an hour but anything over that to me would not be
fair. Those of us who are in college inspiring to be something great in the
future, we go through more schooling to get a higher paying job. I see the
negative affects of raising the minimum wage and I defiantly wouldnt want
the minimum wage raised to $15.00 an hour for a common job. Thats how
much a manager or someone who has some sort of higher education should
be making.

Work Cited
Brodsky, Norm. "The Consequences Of A $15 Minimum Wage." Inc 38.2
(2016): 58. Small Business Reference Center. Web. 8 Mar. 2016.

Bristol, Gabriel. "Why Raising The Local Minimum Wage Makes Sense." San
Diego Business Journal 35.12 (2014): 39. Small Business Reference Center.
Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

Smith, Patricia, and Catherine Rampell. "$7.25 An Hour: Is It All Good News?."
New York Times Upfront 142.3 (2009): 12. MasterFILE Complete. Web. 9
Mar. 2016.