Although the anti-minimum wage faction states that raising the minimum wage would put more people out of work, a study in 1992 by Larry Hunter, the chief economist for the Joint Economic Committee, stated that after interviewing restaurant owners regarding the effects of raising minimum wages, it was found that no jobs were lost. The study was done in New Jersey, where the legislature had boosted minimum wage to the highest level in the United States (Meroney, 1995). What happens said Hunt

Gruber, J, & Krueger, A.B. (1990-December). The incidence of mandated employer-provided insurance: Lessons from Worker's Compensation Insurance. National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper No. 3557, Cambridge: NBER.

Anderson, L. (1988). The minimum wage. NY: Grolier's Multimedia Encyclopedia, Inc.

In a short-sighted economic philosophy of American manufacturers' flight to Mexico to create `macheadoras' using cheap labor, the American manufacturer is then setting up a situation where more American workers will become unemployed, and less able to buy American products, which is the end destination of the `macheadoras' products.

Mexico is another case in point for the effects of lower minimum wages. Although Mexico has statistically demonstrated an increase in the balance-of-trade statistics, by increasing manufacturing with the products' final destination as the U.S., what good is exportation, if in return the Mexicans cannot buy U.S. products. A continued lower minimum wage in the U.S. will affect the balance of trade elsewhere, and currently such heartening statistics as is demonstrated in Mexico, is only a `shell game' with disastrous results which are sure to occur in the near

With less Americans employed, less products will be bought, more Americans will have to go on either welfare of some type of assistance program, which means that other manufacturers will have to pay higher taxes, and possibly higher import duties on foreign products, causing further lowering of wages. Therefore, not increasing the minimum wage over time, will have disastrous effects in the U.S. and world-wide. Although it appears that many people, especially in fast food and service jobs receive minimum wage, a Washington-based study group, the Economic Policy Institute, noted that only 2.4% of the workforce in Indiana earns minimum wage. Only another 7.9% is paid $4.25 to $4.99 an hour. The ususal entry level in Indiana is $6 an hour. The reason for such so-called high wages, is that the job market is tight, and if employees don't pay higher wages in starting salaries, the workers will go elsewhere to work (Shankle, 1995). Therefore, the reverse effect appears to be that if employers continue to pay low wages, then skilled workers or entry-level workers with the ability to move will

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1881
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)