Dear President,

This letter will be addressing the ongoing issue of minimum wage. I believe that the minimum wage should not be raised, for multiple reasons. If the minimum wage is raised, many of the people working/ protesting for it will be fired due to companies needing to compensate for their losses in revenue. Also, most of the companies that employ people at minimum wage are companies that sell consumer products, therefore, if the minimum wage is raised to $15 they will have to raise the presses of their products causing more problems for more people.

Raising the minimum wage this much is going to force companies to find new ways to pay their employees. Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former congressional budget office director from Pittsburgh Pennsylvania stated, “There is no new money to pay someone $15 dollars an hour, and so they money has to come from somewhere else. And one of the places it will come from is from those people who would otherwise gotten hired and won't now”(Holtz-Eakin). This quote from Holtz Eakin shows that raising the minimum wage will only cause more problems for people. Unemployment has always been apron let in America and it will be even bigger if the minimum wage is risen.

The fight for raising the minimum wage is a poorly planned out campaign that has more harmful consequences than benefits. Another statement from Douglas Holtz-Eakin states “And one of the things that is wrong with minimum wage is that, of the increases that come with going to $15, only 7 percent go to people who are in poverty”. This shows that raising the minimum wage is not affecting the people who need it most. Many of the people protesting/striking for a higher federal minimum wage are probably trying to provide for a family. And if only 7% of people are living in poverty that shows that even with a family they are doing ok and making enough money for their family with the minimum wage we have now.

As of March 2016 29 states have a higher minimum wage then the federal with the highest being Washington DC with a wage of $10.25, so the majority of the states already have a higher minimum wage. In some states cities and counties are able to set their own minimum wage with the highest being Emeryville, CA. ProCon.org stated “There are at least 30 cities and counties that have adopted legislation enforcing a higher minimum wage then their respective state levels”(ProCon.org). This shows that many states already have higher wages and cities and counties in these states are able to raise those wages to be higher.

Lastly, raising the minimum wage will cause thousands of workers to be laid off. With this big of an increase that people want for minimum wage, companies will be paying thousands more than they usually do. The only way for them to compensate for the losses will be to fire employees. Douglas Holtz-Eakin exclaimed “There are better approaches, approaches that do not cost jobs”(Holtz-Eakin). This is just showing that other things can be done to financially help workers more than raising the wages.

Sincerely,

Cole M