...turbulent economic period where jobs are few and far between, and it’s very hard to find a single job that can pay well enough to support a family. This issue has been a hot topic for political debate for years now, and lately the argument has grown bigger and parties are looking for solutions for this. A raise in the minimum wage is a suggestion that many of the liberals in Congress have brought to the table to help out these people working for minimal pay. While this sounds great from the outside, the core of the idea must be examined to reveal the fatal flaws in the plan. The minimum wage in the United States should not be raised. In every field of business in the American industry, prices fluctuate based on many factors, employee wages being one of the major ones. Specifically speaking in terms of the food industry, wages of employees make up a huge fraction into the price of the food. If the minimum wage goes up to one of the amounts currently being discussed of fifteen dollars an hour, all of the current prices of food will increase by a very similar margin. When restaurants are forced to pay a higher minimum wage, they must repair that deficit by raising the price of products to continue to raise money. So the argument of raising the minimum wage to create more cash flow in the current market is practically invalid. Even though the income of the workers is increasing, the price of living will also increase with it, leaving the workers exactly where they were to begin with...
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...spending are the cause of improvements in the living standards and wages of workers over the 19th and 20th centuries. He argues that because only “3 percent of workers” were members of unions as late as 1900, and because government regulation of the labor market was minimal prior to the New Deal, these two factors clearly had a limited role in the improvements in workers’ standard of living (228). Instead he points to the idea that when “no one”—or the invisible hand of the market—is instead responsible for protecting workers and improving their lives, workers see the most benefit. Friedman’s conclusion is that workers lot will improve most if the influence of union and government is reduced (247). Since 1980, when the book was published, there has been a steady decline in the percentage of workers who are members of labor unions, while the minimum wage has fallen behind inflation, effectively decreasing. Given that situation, it is possible to evaluate Friedman’s main prediction, as well as his component arguments in light of the new evidence. Friedman argues that the term “labor” is used to elide the fundamental conflicts between unionized and non-unionized workers and between members of unions and labor unions as an institution (229). He also argues that labor unions work in two fundamental ways; first they limit the number of workers available for a particular industry or job, and thus raise the wages for unionized workers while increasing unemployment and...
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...they perceive the product is worth. In the same vein, an employee will only work for a wage that he deems appropriate. If the employer lowers the wage, fewer workers will desire the job. These are a few of the reasons why the free market principle has many benefits. However, in a free market there can also be market failures. Market failures can arise from a multitude of situations such as pollution, or extreme low wages in areas of poverty. In a free market, a company could cause massive amounts of pollution and not have to bear the market cost of that pollution. The society as a whole, including people who do not benefit from the cheaper product, are the ones dealing with the polluted environment. Currently our government has been discussing a raise in the minimum wage. President Barack Obama is pushing for this bill and has many supporters. A rise in the minimum wage will be a major business issue for the next year and presidential election. Pros: Raising the minimum wage some enticing benefits to the American people and also has some strong logical arguments. One of the supporters for a raise in the minimum wage is U.S. Congresswoman from Florida’s 24th District Frederica Wilson who recently wrote an article titled, Raising the Minimum Wage: Good Ethics and Good Economics, which discusses the market failure of low wages. Wilson bases her argument on that a rise in the minimum wage is good ethics and good...
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... Based in Beaverton, Oregon, Nike had been a corporate success story for more than three decades. It was a sneaker company, but one armed with an inimitable attitude, phenomenal growth, and the apparent ability to dictate fashion trends to some of the world’s most influential consumers. Selling a combination of basic footwear and street-smart athleticism, Nike pushed its revenues from a 1972 level of $62,000 to a startling $49 million in just ten years. Many researchers believe that Nike went in decline due to two reasons: Michael Jordan’s final retirement and the slowing economy. Another aspect of Nike that has brought a negative image upon them is the negative accusations of exploiting foreign child labor with lower wage. Poor labor conditions and low wages have been an issue for many years, and are still present in 2011.In the 1980s and 1990s, Nike had been plagued by a series of labor incidents and public relations nightmares: underage workers in Indonesian plants, allegations of coerced overtime in China, dangerous working conditions in Vietnam. For a while, the stories had been largely confined to labor circles and activist publications, until a young female worker had died in a Nike contracting factory in 1997, the labor conditions at Nike had hit the mainstream. Nike has differentiated itself from its competitors were not so much its shoes as its strategy. First, the company would shave costs by outsourcing all manufacturing. There would be no in-house contracting factories...
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...another nation or group of nations. The market in which these transactions take place is the foreign-exchange market. The exchange rate is the price of a currency. The price of foreign exchange is set by D & S in the marketplace Rationale for trade intervention * Should the national government intervene to protect the country’s domestic firms by taxing foreign goods entering the domestic market or constructing other barriers against imports * Should the national government directly help the country's domestic firms increase their foreign sales through export subsidies, government to government negotiations and guaranteed loan programs Free trade vs fair trade? * Free trade implies that the national government exerts minimal influence on the exporting and importing decisions of private firms and individuals * Fair trade (also managed trade) suggests that the national government should actively...
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...Outline I. Introduction II. Minimum Wage Defined a. Past Minimum Wage Law b. Considerations III. Increased Minimum Wage and Employment c. Job Losses d. Unskilled Workers IV. Increased Minimum Wage and Poverty V. Increased Minimum Wage and Effects for Society e. Costs of Labor f. Higher Prices g. Individual Impacts VI. Constitutionalism h. Previous Court Rulings i. Free Contract VII. Demotivation Factors j. Education k. Promotions VIII. Minimum Wage Redundancy IX. Conclusion The issue of raising the minimum wage is a highly debated topic. This topic is one that appeals to people from all walks of life. During some time in an individual’s life, he has worked for minimum wage. There will always be the worker who feels he is not paid enough and the boss who feels that the worker’s pay is adequate for the work. “If there were only two economists left in the world, they would disagree about the minimum wage” (Mejeur 14). Minimum wage is basically the minimal amount that an employer can legally pay an employee for work on an hourly basis. Past laws governed that the minimum wage would increase every few years, with the last increase being in 2009 for $7.25 per hour (Funk & Wagnalls 1). Many people feel an increase is long overdue. Those people, however, are not looking at the entire picture. Increasing the minimum wage goes beyond simply giving people more money...
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...not seriously defended by many people, if any. But the “sweatshop” label can still apply to jobs that do not involve any of these more obvious moral atrocities. A difficult job with long hours that pays very little may still be referred to as a sweatshop job and, I will argue, may still be morally objectionable. The question I want to consider is whether it is morally justifiable to pay the very low sweatshop wages for the very arduous sweatshop labor even if there is no coercion, deception, or direct causing of harm. Some defenders of capitalism and supporters of free-market economics have defended sweatshop wages on the grounds that they benefit the desperately poor workers of these impoverished countries who are very glad to get the work. In an important and widely reprinted paper, Ian Maitland argues that “the appropriate test [for fair wages] is not whether the wage reaches some predetermined standard but whether it is freely accepted by (reasonably) informed workers.”1 In this paper I will criticize the defense, as well as the practice, of (excessively low) sweatshop wages. In particular I will challenge the claim that one cannot wrong someone by benefiting...
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...because they implement effective human resource management strategies and leadership. They encourage employee involvement in decision making and create a fair workplace environment (Boedker, et al., 2011). The employment contract or agreement is an important element of employment relations and it determines the pay, conditions of employment and way work is performed (Loudoun, et al., 2009). This paper will define collective and individual agreements, analyse the differences between them, examine the role of employee voice, trade union involvement and the role of the State and regulation of the industrial relations system. It will consider the impact of the agreements upon both employees and outcomes achieved by businesses and will make the argument that the most efficient and productive form of workplace arrangements for business are collective agreements. Collective Agreements Collective agreements are formal contracts that are negotiated between an employer and a group of employees that stipulate the terms and conditions of employment. This type of agreement exists in a more centralised industrial relations system, and this system is based upon compulsory conciliation and arbitration, a system that has been established since the Conciliation and Arbitration Act of 1904. Collective agreements exist in a pluralist work relations environment. The pluralist theory identifies that there are different sources of authority and loyalty within organisations and that these sources may...
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...The minimum wage is often thought of as a guarantee of fairness in the employment market. As it is erroneously perceived, the minimum wage ensures that every person receives a living wage. However, the minimum wage neither guarantees that an individual be employed in the first place, nor does it guarantee that an employee will be offered enough hours of work in order to garner a so-called “living wage.” A raise in the minimum wage, without a raise in productivity for the given work, will result in companies resorting to drastic measures to secure profits. These measures include cutting down worker hours, implementing rigorous productivity standards, and most importantly, raising the cost of products and services. An increase in the minimum wage will result in an increased difficulty for low-skilled individuals seeking work, as they now have to compensate for an inequity in the value they provide and the wage they are guaranteed. In addition, those already past the threshold of the minimum wage will be forced to endure a rise in the cost of living, despite the fact that they did not receive a raise in their personal wage. Lastly, raising the minimum wage will degrade the idea of the free market, a system which allows prospective employees to exchange their work to an employer for an agreed upon wage, including wages that may not conform to the restraints of the minimum wage. Ultimately, the federal minimum wage should not be raised as it will encourage an increase in the unemployment...
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...Nickel and Dimed In Barbra Ehrenreich’s novel Nickel and Dimed she gives you a play-by-play analysis of her life as a low-income working. She is setting out to reveal whether it is possible to be a single parent, with a low-income job, and kids. She feels the best way to do this is not to just spit out the already published statistics, but to go on a little adventure and actually becomes a person with a minimum paying job. Nickel and Dimed is her whole experience as an unskilled worker first-hand. And in what I would say is the thesis of the novel, Ehrenreich exemplifies exactly what she is trying discover; how does anyone live on the wages available to the unskilled? The argument is simple. Can you live on the salary of a low paying job?...
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...Minimum wage legislation has been a topic of discussion for many years among economists. The first laws were introduced in Australia and New Zealand in order to protect minimum standard living for unskilled workers. At this point more than 90% of all countries have some kind of minimum wage legislation. However there are countries that do not set the minimum wage among those are: Germany, Finland, Iceland, Italy and other counties. Germany is the largest national economy in Europe. According to Central Intelligence Agency GDP of the country in 2011 is $2.94 trillion with real growth rate of 3.5%. Based on Trade Economic data unemployment rate of Germany in October 2011 was 6.5%. Despite the fact the Germany does not have a set minimum wage the average wages in western Germany is 27.9 euro per hour and 17.4 euro per our in Eastern German (source http://export.gov/germany based on data from 03/2011). The wages there are higher than average wages in European Union or worldwide. Of course there are laws of the German Government that regulate dismissal of workers/maternity leave/ vacation/health benefits; but not minimal wages. Minimum wage is set by the Government in order to protect unskilled workers. It provides employees with guaranteed minimum amount of income from their work to survive and pay their bills. It protects mostly adults from loosing their jobs to teenagers or foreigners that are ready to work for less than a minimum wage. However there are...
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...Work Values The arguments for and against raising the minimum wage are almost unavoidable in the labor market, with each side having individually strong points. Advocates say that anyone who works 40 hours a week or more deserves to earn a decent living wage and get out of poverty, while opponents argue that high wages cost jobs. Most of the arguments for increasing the minimum wage are more emotional pleas and theories with very little evidence for achieving the desired outcome. The truth is that raising the minimum wage does not lead people to get out of poverty, but what it does is make it more difficult for younger workers to find entry-level jobs to build their skills. By raising the minimum wage, experts argue that it will make it more difficult for younger workers entering the workforce to get a job. Employers will be hiring workers with more experience and skills, since they can attract these workers with higher wages. Therefore, raising the minimum wage may be causing more harm to a younger workforce looking to find their first job to gain relevant work experience. Our country needs to focus on the inconvenient truths about the real impact around raising the minimum wage. Some of these inconvenient truths are highlighted by the research that clearly shows how raising the minimum wage may cause more harm than good, and have significant consequences to the younger and entry-level workers vs. the emotional theories that state increasing the minimum wage will get more people...
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...issues they faced. With promises of low prices to keep to its customers, they have made decisions which have impacted employees. People say Walmart has poor management, have poor wages for both local and outsourced workers. Many people would call these things uneithical, but Walmart claims otherwise. They claim they are helping people by creating jobs, which meet minimum wage standards, and they care about the ethics within their company. There is an abundance of arguments that call out Walmart as being unethical, but what people easily ignore are these lesser known ones that argue for Walmart’s ethical side. The most predominate unethical issue Walmart has received criticism over for countless years is their poor treatment of employees. The retailer is known for paying its store associates minimum wage. These low wages make it tough for an employee to support a family let alone themselves. Because of the low wages that Walmart pays its employees, many of them have to use government assistance such as food stamps in order to survive. This is not only bad for the employees but it is also costing taxpayers. Walmart does not offer benefits to their part-time workers who work less than twenty-eight hours a week. This can be seen as unethical because the employees are already being paid such a low wage that they cannot afford health insurance on their own. Overall Walmart is running unethical practices regarding the way they treat their employees. Walmart has also been claimed...
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...CASIANA SANKAR Evaluate the relevance of the Marxist model of class structure and class conflict to an analysis of Caribbean society. (May/June 2000) Karl Marx was inspired to create an explanation of a society that had become industrialized and capitalist in the eighteenth century. He understood that the illusion of modernity reflected a continuation of class exploitation that had occurred in previous eras like slavery and feudalism. Hence, he constructed his own model, the Marxist model of class conflict to explain negative circumstances that existed in his time. The main features of Marxism include class conflict, surplus value extraction, false consciousness, revolution and by extension communism. The features of the Marxist model are all applicable to Caribbean society, however due to significant changes in society, they are not relevant to the extent that Karl Marx witnessed. The communist manifesto of 1848 declared that the history of all existing society hitherto is the history of class conflict i.e. oppressor and oppressed. According to Marx, this was reflected by the Bourgeosie as the oppressor and the Proletariat as the oppressed, this statement can be applied to society during the period of Colonization which implanted a Plantation Society which exploited the Indigenous people, West Africans, Indians, Chinese and Madeirans. The methods of class exploitation were visible through the Encomienda, Enslavement and Indentureship. In a Post-Colonial society, class conflict...
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...Federal Minimum Wage Proposal Research Essay MDH-ECO210 President Obama has proposed to increase the Federal Minimum Wage to $10.10 as well as increase the Earned Income Tax Credit among other items associated with this. There are those who oppose the increase to Federal Minimum Wage as well as those who support this proposal. What we have to question when looking at this increase is whether or not it will actually help the economy or if it will simply raise costs of everything we buy on a daily basis. It is necessary that “businesses need to have money available to pay for labor, materials, power, and other inputs” (McConnell, Brue, Flynn, 315). It is debated if raising minimum wage will stifle these businesses, by increasing their pay rate for labor. There are many factors to consider when looking at this proposal that has a multitude of pros and cons. If this constant debate continues as it has in the previous instances then the typical result will be that most Republicans will oppose the proposal while the majority of Democrats will be in favor of passing the bill. President Obama is quoted as saying in his State of the Union address that “in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty” (Hassett, Strain, 2013). The case that is made against raising the minimum wage is very simple; by raising the minimum wage it makes it more expensive for businesses to hire employees. Those who retain their jobs will make more money;...
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