Living Wage in the US
From Dickinson College Wiki
In Support of a Living Wage
Dan Polli, Sophomore, Dickinson College, IB&M and Spanish major
Duy Phan, Sophomore, Dickinson College, Economics and Mathematics major
Halina Terajewicz, Sophomore, Dickinson College, East Asian Studies major
The site is under construction. Please do not delete our work.
What is it?
...halina...i found that pic, use it to say in your intro...workers have been rallying for a minimum wage for a while, ever since the 1800s and the great depression or something like that
Do we need it?
The benefits of a Living Wage
- Assists in greater support of family for low income workers
- The reason why a living wage is so powerful is because of the fact it can be implemented on a local basis. The labor market and price levels vary widely in the United States, but the ability to adapt a wage to a specific area can have powerful effects on the low income workers of the municipality.
- Lower turnover
- An increase in the wage of almost any employee will surely brighten their outlook of the job at hand, as well as the future. With an increase in the wage, businesses are likely to encourage workers to stay with them. A happy work force could have a dramtically positive effect on the firm and market.
- Promote worker loyalty, pride in work and self
- The raising of a firm's minimum wage should allow employees to realize that their business is behind them. This form of encouragement will make them proud to work for the firm and hopefully increase the likelyhood of the pride in how the complete their tasks.
- Increase productivity
- Perhaps the biggest benefit to increasing the wage of workers is the productivity increase it potentially could create. The increased wages can create a desire to please the firm among employees. A productivity increase is central to the argument of a living wage, and it proves many common misconceptions about higher cost wrong. This wil be discussed in the section about disproving the negtive sides of a a living wage.
Possible negatives of the Living Wage
=== Higher costs, and how it can be solved ===
- As mentioned, the biggest criticism that oppenents attack about the living wage are the costs created by it. The fundamental principle behind there argument is quite basic, higher wage- higher labor costs. Opponents state that these higher labor costs would most likely cause firms to cut jobs and under the most extreme conditions, relocate. However, they fail to consider the other options for how the higher labor costs can be passed on through firms. Dr. Robert Pollin, Professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, proposes three different ways to assist firms in coping with higher labor costs: Raising prices, improving productivity, and redistributing income. (CITE)
- Raising Prices:
