Dear Next President,

Minimum wage is a very controversial topic on whether or not it should be raised. This is a collaborative piece between four high school girls that all agree it should not be lifted. There are four main reasons that the minimum wage in America should not be increased. The reasons are: unemployment would go up, jobs would go over seas, small businesses would be affected negatively, and the price of products would go up. One major reason to not raise minimum wage is that unemployment would go up. If businesses started raising the minimum wage, then they couldn’t afford as many workers, which in turn would cause unemployment to rise. Thinking this, would it be worth it to raise the minimum wage a few dollars and have millions laid off? It would not be worth it. We would rather have many citizens getting paid than being unemployed trying to find another job desperately.

If minimum wage is increased, small businesses will be majorly affected. Many people worry that wage increases tend to reduce employment, hurting the younger and less educated workers. If minimum wage increases small businesses will be forced to cut jobs and raise the price of their product. Some businesses will decrease the quality of their product in order to increase their profits. Other small business owners may be forced to close their doors because they can't come up with a viable solution for their loss of revenue. If employers are forced to cut hours, this could also result in the loss of benefits to eligible employees. The snowball effect of raising minimum wage will tear down our economy.

In order for producers to compensate for the lose of capital, they would be forced to increase the prices of their products. If the price of products are raised, then the demand for product will go down. Assuming that the minimum wage will be increased in the near future, cost of products will also increase causing a decline in business. If minimum wage was to increase in the fast food chains, then the food would become more expensive and less desirable.

In the event that minimum wage is increased, many big business will seek out other ways of making their product for the least amount of money. This means that many businesses will transfer their production out of the country to places where people are willing to work for a lower salary. In doing so this takes away from the jobs available in the United States. Is it really worth it to take away jobs from Americans and give them to other countries, where quality control might not be as regulated and the safety of the overall product might not be as well maintained?

Though there are some possible benefits to increasing minimum wage, there are too many negative effects that are bound to occur to the nation's economy. As you have read, some of the possible effects are an increase in unemployment, many small business would most likely be forced to close, the price of products would be forced to increase, and finally increasing minimum wage would cause many big business to outsource jobs to other countries. The negative consequences outweigh the positive benefits by a long-shot to even consider increasing minimum wage. 

Sincerely, 

Alexa, Daniela, Moiranda, & Ryan