Short Paper: Minimum Wage

6-2 Short Paper: Minimum Wage

Southern New Hampshire University

OL-326-X1402 Social Environment of Business

There is continually a perpetual discussion in the United States regarding the federal minimum wage. With the federal minimum wage only maintaining $7.25 and with continuous inflation on goods and services, is that enough for someone to support a family or live as an individual. Several studies suggest this is not feasible short of a minimum wage employee looking for government support. As a consequence of this problem, there are labor advocate groups all over the nation that continually put stress on companies to give earnings that can permit a family or person to subsist on their incomes short of requesting government support.

In consideration of these present matters, Walmart revealed that they want to raise their minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in April 2015 and to $10 per hour by February 2016 (McMillion, 2015). This act was carried forward by Walmart primarily because of the relentless force from labor advocate groups however, not due to supply and demand. Walmart needed to act on their pay levels because of growing public condemnation and elevated staff turnover, all while Walmart’s earnings persisted to increase. This was adversely influencing the company’s standing (Hiroko, 2015). A retail giant such as Walmart, is mindful of supply and demand and inflation expenses. There will always be inflation on a yearly basis and if Walmart truly appreciated their workers, they would contemplate the expense of inflation when establishing wages for their staff.

Labor advocates are asking Walmart’s to boost its minimum wage pay to $15 per hour. This increase may be a slightly taken for some businesses, even for Walmart. When you increase something, such as the minimum wage, there will most likely be key ramifications. Some municipalities or states have put in place a better minimum wage because of the current cost of living in that district. Whereas San Francisco and Seattle have already seen increases in minimum wage for city employees (Hiroko, 2015). Walmart has unquestionably delayed their need to focus on its minimum wage problem, but certain acknowledgment is expected for the act in taking steps towards settling the dispute. The results of seeing a five dollars rise in Walmart’s minimum wage may well be damaging in a way that it would set a standard for not just Walmart but the entire retail marketplace to include Walmart’s competition. Pushing ahead Walmart should evaluate what the actual cost of living income should be and create modifications wherever needed. Additionally, a yearly evaluation of inflation, to include supply and demand should be factored into Walmart worker’s yearly raises.

When looking at the federal government minimum wage, this is definitely the basis of Walmart’s disapproval, in regard to the wages they pay their employees. If the federal minimum wage increased, Walmart would need to conform with the increase and implement a higher wage. This problem brings a equal fault on both the federal government and businesses. There has been a long overdue time frame for an increase in the federal minimum wage. The most recent increase to the Federal minimum wage was in July of 2009, to where the rate was raided from $6.55 to $7.25 (Be Buinessed, 2018). Many can argue that there are numerous pros and cons associated to increasing the federal minimum wage that has been recommend by many activists. If the workers saw a federal minimum wage of $15 dollars, countless businesses would battle to reach that federal obligation, where in turn would spark downsizing and states would see a rise in unemployment. The advantage of such a radical boost would be a decline in government aid and an upsurge in economic stimulus. The sensible answer would to call for an evaluation of what the correct living wage would be to where it wouldn’t involve any help from the Federal or state government. Therefore, the minimum wage should be set to where it correlates with inflation.

References

Be Businessed. 2018. History of Minimum Wage. Retrieved from: https://bebusinessed.com/history/history-of-minimum-wage/

Hiroko, Tabuchi. 2015. Walmart Lifts Its Wage Floor to $9 an Hour. Retrieved from: https://search-proquestcom.ezproxy.snhu.edu/docview/1656246471/fulltext/6BACBBBA7A094765PQ/1?accountid=3783

Inflation.edu. 2018. Historic Inflation United States-CPI Inflation. Retrieved from: https://www.inflation.eu/inflation-rates/united-states/historic-inflation/cpi-inflation-united-states.aspx

McMillion, Doug. 2015. In Letter to Associates, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon Announces Higher Pay. Retrieved from: https://blog.walmart.com/in-letter-to-associates-walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-announces-higher-pay