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Jarrod Brown

Professor Kretzer

English 1201 Online

26 October 2019

Online Casebook

My essay will attempt to examine the effects of minimum wage, in order to find if the

removal of minimum wage would help or hinder the economy, specifically the job market. To

gather this information I first want to learn the intentions and purposes of the minimum wage on

the employment industry. This will then lead me to see the effects of the minimum wage on the

economy of the United States.

Lopresti, John W., and Kevin J. Mumford. “Who Benefits from a Minimum Wage Increase?”

ILR Review, vol. 69, no. 5, Oct. 2016, pp. 1171–1190. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1177/0019793916653595.

In “Who Benefits from a Minimum Wage Increase” John Lopresti and Kevin Mumford

create an interesting study to find the effects of the minimum wage on low-wage workers. The

study they create is very in-depth, it examines and shows how the wages of low-wage workers

with an increase in minimum wage have a smaller wage growth, compared to if there was no

increase in minimum wage. Additionally, it provides a conclusion about the minimum wage

increase on individuals with higher wages, saying that a large increase in minimum wage

actually increases the wages of workers with higher wages, as well as those below the previous

minimum wage.
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This article is largely for both sides of the minimum wage debate, because it provides

support for either side. As a result of support for both sides, biases are left out of the article and

one side is not noticeably favored.

The authors of this article are both credible people and professors at universities. This

article provides evidence from their findings and the studies of others. Also, the study questions

and retests some of the previously done studies. Lastly, the source of the article is published on

EBSCOhost, a database.

I will use the information in this article to show how minimum wage will inflate the job

economy, which will in turn increase the prices of good. The information found in this study

shows that a minimum wage increase effect low-wage workers and high wage workers, making a

large amount of labor more expensive.

Kiger, Patrick J. “Minimum Wage in America: A Timeline.” History.com, A&E Television

Networks, 18 Oct. 2019, https://www.history.com/news/minimum-wage-america-

timeline.

Patrick Kiger provides a very intensive overview of the history of minimum wage in the

United States and a little information from other countries, in “Minimum Wage in America: A

Timeline.” The timeline starts with the first minimum wage introduction in Massachusetts during

the year of 1912, then makes its way through all the changes of minimum wage laws. The article

runs the timeline up to new laws and bills being passed in 2019.

The purpose of the article is to provide a basic level of information about the topic of

minimum wage. It gives a summary of events in the history of minimum wage and its
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development throughout the years. The audience for this piece is anybody interested in minimum

wage or its changes in years past. The article is an object timeline of minimum wage, therefore

bias is not present in the piece.

The writer is Patrick Kiger, he is known to be credible as a result of the company that

published this article. “History” is a very known and credible source that can be used for

academic research, because of its widely recognized trustworthy information. Additionally, the

article is very current in writing and has been updated recently as well, so the information is far

from being outdated.

I will mainly use information from this article to provide background information about

minimum wage and its development in America, for my essay. It gives me a basis of information

to use in order to set up my essay. The article should help answer some of my research questions

about the purposes and intentions of minimum wage, by going back to the root of it.

Abolish the Minimum Wage. [Electronic Resource] : A Debate. Films Media Group, 2013.

EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01128a&AN=scc.b1661054&site=e

ds-live.

In “Abolish the Minimum Wage: A Debate” there is a long debate about the impact of the

minimum wage on employment especially. The debate pits supporters of minimum wage that

argue it prevents poverty among all workers, by giving them enough income to pay for housing,

food, and their basic needs. Against those that argue minimum wage increases the amount of

people out of work, which will not help poverty rates.

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The audience of this article are both sides of the minimum wage conflict as the debate

features facts and opinions from people supporting each side. Multiple people are presented to

argue for either side of the argument and are given the same opportunity to stress their point of

view. This debate is presented to a live audience and they are even allowed to vote for which

side they support.

The writers are all prominent economists with their differing opinion on the topic of

minimum wage. This is a very professional debate given to a live audience on a credible

platform. In addition, the debate is only a few years old, so the information is fairly current.

Lastly, the debate is largely presented without biases as the debaters are professionals looking to

spread their ideas.

I will use the information largely presented by the side that supports abolishing the

minimum wage, because much of their argument is focused on the effects of the minimum wage

on employment. This information will give me a lot of evidence to answer my questions about

the minimum wage’s impact on jobs.

Olya, Gabrielle. “What Happened When These Places Raised the Minimum Wage to $15.”

Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo!, 24 Sept. 2019, https://finance.yahoo.com/news/happened-

places-raised-minimum-wage-194711258.html.

Gabrielle Olya published an article titled “What Happened When These Places Raised the

Minimum Wage to $15,” in which she examines how the increased minimum wage has effected

certain states and cities. The evidence throughout the article supports both sides of the minimum

wage argument. It ends with the conclusion that there are pros and cons to increasing the

minimum wage and abolishing it.

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The writer of the article presents an unbiased point of view with her analysis of the

information gathered from each location. She targets an audience that either supports minimum

wage or doesn’t, because her findings don’t disprove one view point or the other.

The author, Gabrielle Olya, presents her findings in an article published in Yahoo

Finance which is a very credible site with similar economic article published throughout. The

article was just published as of this year, so the information included is very new and up to date.

Additionally, the article cites other studies and information from other credible sources, such as

ones from federal organizations.

I will use the information from the article to find the effects of minimum wage on the

economy. Additionally to see the positives and negatives of the removal of the minimum wage,

especially in the area of employment.

Gruben, Mallory. “Local Businesses Prepare for Minimum Wage Boost, 'Survival of the Fittest'.”

Longview Daily News, 8 Oct. 2019, https://tdn.com/news/local/local-businesses-prepare-

for-minimum-wage-boost-survival-of-the/article_60eeddab-74ae-5940-96b6-

7aecf7e0fa57.html.

In “Local Businesses Prepare for Minimum Wage Boost, ‘Survival of the Fittest,”

Mallory Gruben interviews local businesses to see the effects of the new minimum wage

increase. She finds that local businesses are struggling to employ the same amount of people as

before, as a result jobs and hours are being cut. Additionally, the goods being purchased by the

businesses, mostly restaurants, are increasing. In turn the menu prices of items are being

increased. This increase of prices are largely turning away customers and hurting businesses.
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The purpose of the article is to show the new struggles of local businesses as a result of

the new minimum wage increase. The targeted audience are local people and even doubters of

minimum wage. This piece was also written in the recent past as it went along with new

legislation passed to raise minimum wage in certain locations to $15 an hour.

The writer of this article is Mallory Gruben she is a part of the local news. There isn’t a

way to check the accuracy of her findings, as they are largely based off of first-hand accounts of

business owners. On the other hand the information gathered is very relevant to the topic of

minimum wage and its impacts. Lastly, the evidence is no more than a few months old.

I will use the information presented in the article to answer my questions on how the

increase in minimum wage will affect the economy. These answers will help provide information

on both the local and United States economy.

Belman, Dale, and Paul J. Wolfson. What Does the Minimum Wage Do? W E Upjohn Institute,

2014. EBSCOhost,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e900xww&AN=815511&site=eds-

live.

In the book What Does the Minimum Wage Do?, the authors Dale Belman and Paul

Wolfson examine the debate surrounding minimum wage and its effects. The book is also

provides basic level of information to answer the question about the purpose of the minimum

wage. All together the book is a very good overview of the long heated debate of minimum

wage.
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The purpose of this book was to create a large piece of information to answer the

question about the purpose of minimum wage. It presents basic information about the beginnings

of minimum wage and some of its history. Then is gives support for both sides of the minimum

wage argument.

The authors’ are both known and credible economists. In addition, the book uses

information from many other credible sources within. As a result the accuracy and relevancy of

the information is all very good. Along, with the book being current, because it was only

published in 2014.

I will use this source probably the most in my essay as it provides the most information

about the topic. It will answer my questions about the origin and functions of minimum wage.

Additionally, it will answer the question about how the minimum wage will affect the job and

employment industry.

Tankersley, Jim, and Emily Cochrane. “$15 Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty but Cost

Jobs, Congress Told in Report.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 8 July

2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/08/us/politics/federal-minimum-

wage.html?searchResultPosition=11.

In “$15 Minimum Wage Would Reduce Poverty but Cost Jobs, Congress Told in Report”

Jim Tankersley and Emily Cochrane examine the potential effects of a new bill being passed in

the United States to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. The conclusion the authors

eventually arrive to are that an increase in minimum wage would in fact rise a large amount of

people out of poverty. On the other hand it would make another portion of the population

unemployed with job lose.

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The writers in this article attempt to break down the pros and cons of this new bill being

put through legislation. They provide a very objective viewpoint of the new minimum wage bill,

by breaking it down and providing evidence from both sides of the story. Additionally, the article

tries to target people that are interested in the recent development of the minimum wage and its

changes.

Both writers are credible and very objective in the article they have written. The article is

posted on the New York Times, so the source is both credible and relevant. Additionally, the

information in the article largely comes from federal organizations so it is very accurate. Lastly,

the information in the article is only a few months old, so it is current.

I will use information from the article to support my answer to the question about the

impact of the minimum wage, and how it negatively impacts the job market.