How Will The Increase in Minimum Wage Affect Workers in New Mexico

New Mexico’s minimum wage has been set at $7.25 an hour since 2009. On January 1st 2020, they made a new law that minimum wage is now starting at $9.00 an hour. This could have many negatives and positives for companies and businesses. The new minimum wage law could make businesses go bankrupt and possibly affect their working labor negatively. Minimum wage rising is a big controversy, because of the many positive and negative point of views as well as the political and historical views.

According to the site, “Money Q and A”, “One of the negative effects of raising the minimum wage is that fewer jobs are created. Many employers will choose to hire fewer employees than they would have done. If the federal minimum wage more than doubles to $15 per hour, many employers may be forced to hire one person instead of two for job openings.” This site is explaining that having a higher minimum can make companies hire more people and pay more because the pay is so high. If companies were to hire more employees the recent workers will not have the same amount of work time as they did before.

Other states that have a higher minimum wage than New Mexico such as Washington D.C., California, Massachusetts, with a pay up to $12.00-$14.00 an hour, show an inequality towards New Mexico. Not to mention, the pros do outweigh the cons if minimum wage isn’t higher than what it already is. Wages being too high can reduce the ability of companies labor cost concerning recession, which can cause trade and industrial activity to be reduced. Having a higher pay makes your work ethic more enjoyable and makes co workers productive because they are more motivated to provide more for their companies. According to the site “Toggl”, “Increased wages and spending raise demand and create more jobs. Workers stay with employers longer (instead of seeking out better-paying work with other companies) reducing businesses’ turnover, hiring, and training costs.” When looking for a job, most people would want to go for the job that pays the most because higher earnings that include more benefits.

In the 1900’s, as we know everything was very cheap and not as expensive as things are now. For example, a bottle of Coca- Cola prices went up to about 6 cents, now it’s almost $3.00. According to the site , “The Balance”, “Expansionary fiscal and monetary policies, consumer expectation of future price increases, and marketing or branding can increase demand. Cost-pull inflation happens when supply decreases, creating a shortage.” As scarcity occurred throughout the years it caused supply to decrease rapidly, which caused workers to raise a greater price on stock.

In the early 1900’s minimum wage used to start at $0.25 per hour; halfway into the 1900’s it raised to $0.75, then in the late 1900’s the minimum wage had increased to $1.60 per hour which is proportionate to some states now. These wages were this low because of the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) of 1938, which is a labor law in the United States that creates the rights to minimum wage. Equally important, this act still applies till this day but, it will hopefully change throughout this year. Furthermore, when this law is absent it can help change the way employee’s are able to work overtime with just a little less pay. This can be very equal to having a higher minimum wage but with less hours.

According to the website, “ Education and Labor committee” , “Raising the federal minimum wage will also stimulate consumer spending, help businesses’ bottom lines, and grow the economy. A modest increase would improve worker productivity, and reduce employee turnover and absenteeism.” Minimum wage does benefit the economy in some ways, for example, the source is saying that it helps reduce truancy as well as losing less employee’s. People with low income have a higher chance of being able to make a decent amount of money with just the right amount of hours. Not only does it benefit the company with more employee’s, but it includes benefits for people in need of this kind of help.

In some cases, there are people who want a higher paying job than minimum wage because of their lifestyle, this affects the rate of hiring more employees. If the minimum wage does not increase in some companies then that would lead to lower unemployment because the employee’s would want the same pay as other companies are getting.

Raising the minimum wage helps with various situations. Many people would prefer a higher minimum wage anyway because it has other benefits and people can afford more. Minimum wage is beneficial for many people and can help many business’ and companies.

The minimum wage law is set by US labor law and a range of state and local laws. Many people don’t like the idea of raising the minimum wage because of the prices and things that they would have to raise in order to keep paying their employees. Either way the raising of minimum could be better for our country or worse based on our economy.

In worst cases this could just make companies go out of there business but in the best this could go to a whole other level pf helping our economy and other people as well. According to the NYC Daily Times, “ It has not been raised since 2009, the longest time the country has gone without a minimum-wage increase since it was established 1938.” It’s been a very long time since they had any thought about raising the minimum wage. Meanwhile, only three republicans voted for this increase and then six democrats opposed for it. The Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky stated that “ He will not take it up.” From the site NYC Daily Times.

In reality the Republicans are for the movement, while the Democrats are not. They thought it was politically impossible. The Republican states like Missouri and Arkansas raised the minimum wage trying to encourage more Democrats to follow this movement. This movement could really help and benefit people in some ways they never knew. This will help New Mexico workers tremendously and could have many more benefits to them and their families.

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