St. Joe’s Prep
Philadelphia

Mr. William Conners
Minimum Wage Regulation
Mark Zoller
Grade11

There is much debate over regulation in the Nation today. The question is, is their too much government regulation or too little.  Clearly there is too much regulation in the nation today. The
government runs the world and certain positions in government are trying to work themselves up the career ladder. Minimum wage is at the very bottom of the corporate ladder and it sets the standard for the working class American. The federal minimum wage is $5.15 and hour. This is way too low. 

On a survey asking whether businesses would be affected by an increase to $6.00 an hour 84.3% said it would have no impact on the company.  Regulation is needed but the government should not have that big of a role in some decisions such as the minimum wage issue. The government should raise the federal minimum wage because many businesses need to give more money to
their employees. The economy took a big hit because of the events of September 11 and we need to raise the minimum wage because it would help people feel comfortable to get out their and spend and help the economy.
           There is good and bad that come with the regulation. Raising the minimum wage creates a barrier to employees because it adds to what you have to do to justify expanding business. It has a negative effect on job creation and the creation of new businesses. Because of the unnecessary regulation on minimum wage some of the poor or low wageworkers that the minimum wage was designed to help will now find themselves out of work. Some legitimate things happened because of
the regulation on minimum wage, such as an increase in the minimum wage will increase the teenage
unemployment up 3%. The wage and hour division of the U.S. department of Labor is responsible for enforcing the minimum wage. The president must call congress into session to raise the minimum wage of hard working Americans. Regulation on minimum wage especially has
its positive effects and negative effects.

       If the minimum wage is raised up to $6 and hour than small businesses could take a big hit. Many small business organizations warn that an increase would hurt employees who generally have less to pay their expenses. Raising the minimum wage would have an impact on the lives of many people. Each person that works full-time on minimum wage would receive about $12,000 annually. If the minimum wage was raised $1 than the annual income would be about $17,000. This extra money could help people to live better because they could have money and could buy some products that they could not normally buy. The minimum wage plays an important role in ensuring that all workers share in a growing economy. The administration does not want to hurt under trained workers. But Senator Ed Kennedy wishes to increase the minimum wage by 29%. This proposal would increase the cost of labor by $7 billion and eliminate between 200,000 and 600,000jobs.
This is clearly a drastic measure but the minimum wage must be raised to fairly pay hard working class Americans. 

     There will be a significant cost increase with firms that have a very high proportion of the firms overall cost.  The minimum wage is definitely a worthy cause for the government to spend money but the money to have a regulation committee could be cut back at this time and go towards home land security funds. The living wage does not affect that many people because many of the firms in the nation are already paying well above the living wage that has been set. These firms are paying their workers more to reward them for their hard work.
            
    The government does have an important role in the minimum wage because it sets the standard for
the American working world and helps us citizens to work to get better in the workplace. Raising the minimum wage is good for American workers and for the economy and raising the minimum wage would help millions of workers. In the past when the minimum wage was increased it has resulted in little or no decrease in employment and has no negative effect on the employment in the US. Every year that the government does not raise the minimum wage those workers who receive minimum wage for their work loose ground because of inflation. At this time there is low unemployment and continued economic growth and it is likely that the dominant effect of an increase in the
minimum wage would be to increase the incomes of those people at the lower end of the wage distribution.  

   Over regulation should be determined if the government is too involved in the minimum wage and the wage changes weekly or even daily. This would be too much regulation because it is not needed. The government could spend their time on more important things and let each firm or business worry about how much they feel a person should get for their contributions to the company. The wage and hour division of the US Department of Labor enforces more than 80 million American workers are protected by the FLSA and it. They are to have two employees in their company. Those
that do at least $500,000 a year in business and hospitals, business providing medical or nursing care
for residents, schools and preschools, and government agencies.
         Minimum wage is a good thing but the regulation on it can be bad and lead to the government
trying to control all the business in America. The minimum wage explains why the unemployment rate of young people or teenagers is so high. 68% of the workers who earn less than $6.15 an hour are adults. A regulation that is good is that employers must be able to demonstrate that they are paying the National Minimum wage. It is a criminal offense not to pay the national minimum wage or to keep no records or false records of it. There is not an over regulation on the minimum wage today. The government is just as involved, as they should be. But I believe that the minimum wage should rise every decade because times change and this is a regulation that the government should be a part of the situations. So there is just the right amount of regulation on the issue of minimum
wage today.



                                              Works
Cited
1) www.bcentral.com.
2) Clinton, Bill : Raising the minimum wage ?An
overdue pay raise for American?s working families?
Indstry Group 91 January 8 2001.
3) www.Dol.gov Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
4) Hoar, William ?Want a raise or a job?? The New
American Nov 19 2001 American Opinion Publishing Inc.
5) Krueger, Alan ?Teaching the minimum wage in Econ
101 in light of the new economics of the minimum wage?
Relevance The Journal of Economic Education July 2001
Page 243.
6) www.netaccounts.com  National Minimum Wage
Regulations.
7) Pollin, Robert ?Time for a living wage? Challenge.
8) Prince, C.J. ?Pay Up? Minimum wage and small
business Entrepreneur October 2001.
9) Raphael, Todd ?The push for living wage laws?
Workforce December 2001.
10) Reason ?Living wage study? October 2001.
                                                      
      End Notes

C.J. Prince ?Pay Up? Minimum Wage and Small business
Entrepreneur October 2001
  C.J. Prince ?Pay Up?
  Alan Krueger ?Teaching the minimum wage in Econ 101
in light of the new economics of the minimum wage?
Relevance The journal of Economic Education July 2001
Page 243
  Alan Krueger
  William Hoar ?Want a raise or a job?? The New
American November 19 2001 American Opinion Publishing
Inc.
  Robert Pollin ?Tine for a living wage? Challenge
  President Clinton: Raising the minimum wage- An
overdue pay raise for American?s working families?
Indstry group 91 January 8 2001.
  www.dol.gov   Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938
  William Hoar


  Questions
1) There is only one way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane and that is to harden
the cockpit. No way to get in short of explosives and nobody goes in or out during the flight.

2) Tauzin and Dingell?s proposal seeks to address the way data is transmitted over long distances as well as how independent phone companies can connect to regional Bell companies local networks. The legislation calls for a 10 person annual tax credit for five years to companies that bring ?current
generation? broadband to residents and business in undeserved rural and inner-city areas.

3) Yes, I believe that this is a good idea because it specifies that if a polluter want to seek payment from a business that has been exempted from government cleanup requirements.

4) The government should not have any regulation over roller blading or bungee jumping because these are recreational events and a person should feel free to participate in them if he or she wishes to do so.

5) A burden hour is supposed to measure the time it takes to collect data and fill out federal forms,
surveys, and reports.

6) Every Major government regulation overturned or created by the Bush administration would go through his agency, which is part of the office of management and budget.
a) The problems with risk analysis is that its garbage in or garbage out
b) Reagan was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh out potential costs and benefits
when writing a rule
c) OSHA has been at work on regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive
tasks.

7) It is an unbreakable alliance among the democratic committee chairmen, agency officials and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve a common goal.

8) The bush administration is preparing a national energy plan, scheduled to be released in weeks, it is expected to have a number of proposals that can be accomplished by administrative action such as allowing increased drilling on public land and easing regulatory restrictions on energy producers. Other agencies are considering low-profile ways to help thecase of the regulatory burden on business.

9) They routinely called officials to Capitol Hill and demanded that they explain regulatory decisions.

10) A highway is 12 years and the average time for an airport is 15 years.

11) It imposes right and unreasonable barriers to newcomers who want to enter a business.

12) Polls show that people are willing to sacrifice for common goals that are judges to be good for
today's society. Certain goals such as safe buildings, adequate water, and low density and picturesque surroundings are desirable.

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