Please review this essay and give me any suggestions following the questions below

For Introductions:

How would you describe this introduction? Does it provide context for this issue? Does it suggest what is at stake or why the paper is important?

Does it offer a thesis statement? What is it? Is it arguable? Does it address the "so what"?

Is the Intro engaging? Does it get you interested in this topic? What might make it better?

For Body Paragraphs:

How are the sources integrated? Are they clearly introduced? Does the author rephrase or comment on the source before he/she moves on? [Remember the sandwich technique.] Mark instances that might need revision.

Does the author transition between paragraphs? Point out paragraphs that transition too abruptly. Do they just need better connections? What key words/ concepts could be repeated to make the transition better? [Usually, this is a problem with the topic sentence or the general organization, so is the paragraph out of order?]

Does each paragraph/section link back to the main purpose/ argument of the paper? Draw attention to those that do not.

For Conclusions:

Does this conclusion return us (somehow) to the central critical conversations at hand here? If not, what does it do. how successful is that strategy?

In General:

Look at the citation throughout this piece -- both in-text and on Works Cited page. Do you notice any glaring errors? Or any moments where information is missing? If so, point that out. [Remember that each Works Cited page citation should line up with one or more in-text citations. Do you see any sources that only show up in one or other other? If so, that's a problem.]

Are there moments when the author moves too quickly in the argument and you get lost? Point these out and get him/ her to fill in the blanks.

What other feedback or suggestions can you offer this person. What major concerns do you have about this project? What do you think need to happen to this piece before it gets turned in?

The Impact of Increasing Minimum Wage

Minimum wage has to do with the lowest wage an employer can legally pay a worker in the United States, despite any state or local law, excluding any work that is excused. It has been around for a little over a hundred years. Just recently, minimum wage increased in several cities and counties, most of them reaching the new minimum of $15. The topic of minimum wage is one that has been debated many times over the years and has remained a political issue for a while. While some say that minimum wage does not correlate to inflation too much and benefits low-income workers, others will say the increase of minimum wage deals a lot with inflation and unemployment. Believe it or not, increasing the minimum wage not only affects inflation and unemployment rates, but it also affects the value of money that one earns and spends.

The concept of minimum wage began in Australia and New Zealand in the 1890s. it eventually made its way over to Great Britian in 1909, where trade boards set a minimum wage only in certain trades and industries. A couple of years later, in 1912, the U.S. enacted it is first minimum wage law, which only covered women and children ("Minimum Wage"). Later in 1938, when Congress passed the Fair Labor Standards Act, the government introduced minimum wage as a national law that stated the lowest rate at which one could employ someone to do labor. This could be arranged in terms of the amount, time spent working, and even the scope of coverage. The goal of minimum wage was to shorten the hours and raise pay in the ("Minimum Wage"). Minimum wage now exists in many countries, though the laws are different in each country. In Argentina, for example, the minimum wage is determined by a shared deal between the National Council for Employment, Productivity and the Adjustable Minium Living Wages, which involve people in the government, the employer, and the worker representatives. In the United States, there is not just a minimum wage in most states but as well as a set federal minimum wage ("Minimum Wage"). The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007 made an adjustment to minimum wage and increased it from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour by the time 2009 came around. Not only was increase included in the act, but so was a $5 billion tax break included in to help give small business time to readjust to the extra costs that would occur. Even though there has been an inflation of over 40%, the federal minimum wage has stayed the same, at $7.25 as of 2023 (Opposing Viewpoints: Minimum Wage).

Despite the government saying that inflation has been kept at the same level for a while, it has stayed above the rate of 2-3%, which is the ideal target (Evans). Looking over the past fourteen years, inflation has had its increases and decreases. It is expected that inflation rates will fluctuate over time, however, in June 2022, there was 9.06% annual inflation rate. Before that time, the rate was between 2.13% and 2.95% from May 2014-January of 2020. The increase in June of 2022 may have been because of the minimum wage increase that was take place in correspondence with an executive order that was placed by President Joe Biden (Kiger). In the beginning of 2023, the inflation rate was at 6.41% and then eventually lowered to 3.70% by September of 2023. By the time January of 2024 began, inflation was at 3.09% and then slightly increased to 3.48% when March arrived (McMahon). The minimum wage increase that occurred in 2022 did not help the inflation rate to go down in the past couple of years.

The value of the dollar goes down with the increase in minimum wage, inflation, and unemployment rates. People are starting to see that their paychecks are not going as far as they used to. The government increased the minimum wage to help keep up with the rise of inflation. This means that because people are working for more, companies have to raise the prices of their products in order to pay their employees. Because the company raises their prices of the products, consumers have to pay more to get an item. Sometimes people stop buying an item at one place and get it somewhere else because it is cheaper somewhere else or the consumer stops buying the product all together, resulting in the company losing money. When the company loses money, they have to lay off employees in order to pay their other employees and to pay the company's bills. This then results in a higher unemployment rate (Hayes).

Rasing the minimum wage would help support twenty-seven million workers, who work at a low income, financially and help raise the annual income of 1.3 million people out of impoverishment. With this in mind, it would potentially lead to more consumer spending because the low income workers are spending more money than the other regular workers. Also minimum wage might help with increasing work ethic, the amount of items being produced, motivate workers to work harder, and help develop company fidelity ("Minimum Wage").

While this may seem helpful and beneficial, this could potentially lead to employers hiring fewer workers, such as teenagers and other applicants who are most likely inexperienced and may not excuse the increased cost. Also, minimum wage laws leave small businesses high and dry, between having to pay employees and bills to having to raise their prices. This can put a small business out of business ("Minimum Wage). Another reason why a minimum wage increase would be more negative is that it could lead to reductions, such as layoffs and hiring comes to a halt, which could lead to a result of about 1.3 million jobs lost (Daughtery). Employees would have added stress and pressure from their employer because the employees would be expected to do more work (Opposing Viewpoints: Minimum Wage). Not only that, but, once again, if the employer does decide to raise the pay of their employees, that employer may also decide to cut back on the employees' hours to help save some money. Due to that, there are little benefits to raising the minimum wage because employers look for other ways to save money despite the minimum wage increase (Daughtery).

To sum up, increasing the minimum wage does have some benefits but it also has some consequences. While the minimum wage has to keep up with inflation, inflation has to come down for minimum wage to come back down. The value of money is decreasing with each minimum wage increase; the value needs to be brought back up so then individuals and families can provide better for their families. Just because the money is higher and an employee is thinking they are getting more for their work, they actually are not and are getting less instead.