The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013

President Obama recently called his States of Union address for a raise on the minimum wage to $9 an hour.
Following the president's call, Senate . Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.) indicated their support for raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. This proposal has been formalized as the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013. As mentioned in the recent post, this act will benefit millions of workers and our economy as a whole. Raising the minimum wage will reduce the growing income inequality in the society, and more opportunities will be open for diverse of people.

Although workers of all race and ethnicity will benefit from this act, non-Hispanic white workers represent 54% of all the affected workers. Some may argue that the increase in the minimum wage will result the business owners to hire less people to balance out the benefit, but this act will also contribute to the creation of new jobs. An EPI briefing states: "Across the phase-in period of the minimum-wage increase, GDP would increase by roughly $32.6 billion, resulting in the creation of approximately 140,000 net new jobs (and 284,000 job years) over that period" (Cooper and Hall).  In other words, this act will help reduce the unemployment rate, and at the same time make a huge job opening for the young workers also. This act would raise the wage of over 30 million workers throughout the country, and the workers will receive total of $51 billion additional wage in the phase-in period (Cooper and Hall). President Obama stated that the minimum wage workers, who work full-time, do not earn enough to be above the poverty line. People who work hard to support their family should not be living in poverty. A raise on the minimum wage would benefit   those with all kinds of characteristics; in terms of gender, age, race and ethnicity, educational attainment, work hours, family income, and family composition (Cooper and Hall). This will take a huge part in making the economy better. As mentioned before, this act may not please some of the workers because they worry about the job loss. According to a recent research, the increase in minimum wage will not cause job loss. It creates more diverse working environment and opportunities for the people who didn't have a chance before. This will work as a tool for the economic growth, and it will benefit millions of people in our country; not only the workers but the owners too. Increase in the minimum wage will stimulate more spending in small businesses and institutions. It is truly a win-win solution, and this will make a better and happy life for millions of our fellow Americans.

Citation:
Cooper, David, and Doug Hall. "RAISING THE FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE TO $10.10 WOULD GIVE WORKING FAMILIES, AND THE OVERALL ECONOMY, A MUCH-NEEDED BOOST." Economic Policy Institution. EPI, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2013. <http://www.epi.org/files/2013/bp357--federal-minimum-wage-increase.pdf>.