...Compensation, and Minimum a growing management issue. By: Kendra Wright MGMT 630-9022 Turnitin score : As we enter the second decade of the 21st century and examine the management issues facing today’s organizations one in particular sticks out, and probably has been seen on many media outlets over the past few months. Compensation, and minimum wage a many organizations are encountering especially the fast food industry. The McDonalds Corporation has been at the forefront of this heated minimum wage battle between workers, and management. We will go more depth with the issues surrounding this organization, after we first have an understanding of what exactly minimum wage is entails. The minimum wage policy was created in the late 1930s, the law mandates that hourly pay does not go below a fixed level, and that these regulations are being enforced. There are many debates surrounding the issue of minimum wage. You will find many who believe minimum wage increases the likely hood of unemployment, and is not doing anything to help those stuck in the low earning workforce situation. Countering that argument are those who believe minimum wages ward off or decrease people from falling into poverty and exploitation. (Wilkinson, T.M 2004) In my review of the case study “Minimum Wages and Employment: A Case Study of the Fast-Food Industry in New...
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...Raising the minimums raises the maximums Most of our nation’s low-income jobs and positions are not paying like they used to. Is federal minimum wage at an all-time low? Are we not in the greatest country, where American’s who work harder live more wealthily and have more success? The first federal minimum wage legislation was created in 1938, where law stated that workers earned 25 cents an hour. Since then the federal minimum has been revised and increased twenty-two times. The federal minimum wage was ignored from the year 1981 to 1990, and again until in 2007 where wages were raised to $7.25 per hour. Eight years later, the minimum standard remains the same which is an issue for most American’s considered to be middle class today. Actually, today’s minimum wage is lower than any rate during the years between 1956 and 1985. Nearly a quarter of America’s working adults are laboring for wages that do not support families at the minimally acceptable level (Curry). A person working full-time at the federal minimum wage earns $290 in a week, around $15,080 for the year (Gillibrand). With an annual salary of $3000 less than the nation’s poverty level line, an average family of three will struggle to make ends meet. These low-income families will need government assistance, for basic living needs. At this rate of pay, even an average family who has two working/supporting parents will still have financial burdens. They will be considered a poor family, with house-hold income of...
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...Abolishing the Minimum Wage ENGL 101 / Janet Stallard Carla Woods American Public University Abolishing the Minimum Wage Many Americans think of the minimum wage as a means of raising the income of the working people. However, the minimum wage is not the best way to combat poverty. In fact, the minimum wage does more harm than good. The list of its negative effects is a long one: it causes unemployment; it prevents unskilled workers from getting the on-the-job training they need; it encourages teenagers to drop out of school; it promotes the hiring of illegal aliens; and it increases welfare dependency. For all of these reasons, the minimum wage should be eliminated. To evaluate the minimum wage, we must first understand why it was originally created and what its historical effects have been. The minimum w age was introduced in 1938 by President Franklin Roosevelt. According to Dr. Burton W. Folsom (1998), a senior fellow in economic education for the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, the driving force behind this new legislation was not the plight of the working poor but the political might of the highly paid textile workers of New England, who were trying to protect their jobs as they faced competition from Southern textile mills. The Southern mills were able to produce cloth of equal quality more cheaply than their counterparts in the North because of the lower cost of living in the South, which allowed Southern factories to pay lower wages to their workers. In response...
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...Abolish or Sustain? The Minimum Wage Debate Sarah Campbell May 8, 2013 Abstract In 1938 the Fair Labor Standards Act established a federal minimum wage. Minimum wage has continuously increased throughout the years due to interest rates and the value of a dollar. Since its introduction the minimum wage has risen from 25 cents an hour to 7.25 dollars per hour in 2009. In President Obama’s recent State of the Union Address he states, “Working folks shouldn’t have to wait year after year for the minimum wage to go up while CEO pay has never been higher.” He hopes to raise the minimum wage by 2014 to 9 dollars per hour. Following the President’s support on minimum wage increase Sen. Tom Harkin (Democrat-Iowa) and Rep. George Miller (Democrat-California) formalized a proposal known as S.460, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 to increase the minimum wage by 2015 to $10.10. This proposal includes increasing the minimum wage (in three incremental increases of $.95) and then indexing it to inflation (“as prices rise, so would the minimum wage” (Cooper, Hall 2013)). Also, the tipped minimum wage (the minimum wage paid to workers who earn a portion of their wages in tips) would be increased in $0.85 increments from its current value of $2.13 per hour, where it has languished since 1991, until it reaches 70 percent of the regular minimum wage (Cooper, Hall 2013). However, in the current tough economic times many people argue that an increased minimum wage will only hurt and that...
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...Minimum Wage: A Historical Perspective and its’ Future On June 18th, 2004, Senator Kerry announced his minimum wage plan, saying, “I’m running for President to build a stronger economy that lifts up families and expands opportunity for hardworking Americans. Today, there are workers, many of them women, struggling to get by on the minimum wage. That is wrong. We can do better. And together, we are going to change it. I want to build an America where working families can get ahead, where a family working fulltime does not have to raise their children in poverty.” (Burkhauser 1) Classical economists have proven for years that floors and ceilings on prices are bad for economies. So why do politicians, who call themselves progressive, continue to beat the drum of creating a living wage? The reason; to get more votes. A wage floor is strictly a political issue disguised as a social problem needed to help the poor. Raising the minimum wage has taken on a fever pitch in Congress this year, regardless of the fact that there is not a widely accepted empirical economic study suggesting it is the correct policy to assist the working poor. This paper consists of research conducted by the author from both the government activist and laissez-faire positions. In addition to the list of works cited at the end of this paper, several public policy institute web site were reviewed for pertinent material. These sites include: the Heritage Foundation...
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...Minimum wage in Hong Kong Table of Contents 1. Part 1: Minimum Wage law in Hong Kong 2 2. Introduction 2 3. Minimum Wage – Economic Theory 2 4. Introduction in Hong Kong – May 2010 3 5. Impacts – 15 months later 5 5.1. Employment 5 5.2. Firms profitability 6 5.3. Inflation 7 6. Economic cycle considerations 9 7. Part 2: Housing issues in Hong Kong 9 8. Introduction 9 9. Housing situation in Hong Kong 9 10. Housing Demand in Hong Kong 11 11. Housing supply in Hong Kong 14 12. The Current Government Policies 15 12.1. Policy 1: 15 12.2. Policy 2 16 12.3. Policy 3 16 13. Conclusion 17 14. Bibliography 18 Part 1: Minimum Wage law in Hong Kong Introduction The Hong Kong Government introduced of a Minimum Wage in Hong Kong in May 2011, in response to increased incomes disparity in the territory. It uses economic theory to predict certain impacts such as level of employment, profits of firms, inflation effect and potential positive effects on the economy in general. Minimum Wage – Economic Theory Economic theory tells us that when artificial price floors are introduced in the market, they force prices to remain above the level that balances supply and demand. The same is true with minimum wage; it raises the quantity of labor supplied and reduces the quantity of labor...
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... (History Of Minimum Wage) President Franklin D. Roosevelt characterized the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA), as “the most far-reaching, far-sighted program for the benefit of workers ever adopted in this or any other country.” A law drafted by Senator Hugo Black of Alabama and signed into law in June 1938, the FLSA was designed to “put a ceiling over hours and a floor under wages” by establishing an eventual maximum 40 weekly work hours. Henderson, David R. "Raising the Minimum Wage Will Not Reduce Poverty." Poverty. Ed. Viqi Wagner. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "The Negative Effects of the Minimum...
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...Introduction This critical literature review will focus on the impact of the National Minimum Wage on employment. This is an area we have had to familiarise ourselves with more and more throughout the last ten years because of the controversial effect of its instalment in April 1999 and its ever increasing minimum wage amount which causes most concern. The application of a few statistics should help summarise the ever increasing minimum wage and the sheer scale of people affected by its introduction. The national minimum wage has increased by a staggering 59% in the last ten years; from £3.60 in April 1999 to £5.73 in October 2008. (HRM, 2008) According to George Sayers Bain (1999) as from April 1999, the year of its instalment , “some two million low paid workers will gain. To put that into a different context is one in twelve employees; one in three house workers; one in five part time workers. The obvious reason for its introduction was to reduce poverty pay levels while at the same time decreasing the wage differentials of the minimum wage to the median wage of all workers. This is known as ‘the bite’ and is commonly used to assess the effectiveness of the minimum wage. (LPC, Low Pay Commission, 2007) As stated above the intention of this review is to firstly establish the effect of the National minimum wage on employment; justifying it as a positive, negative or mutual effect. Secondly to help incarcerate the purpose even more the retail sector will be focused on...
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...Application Paper Coy, Peter. “How Much Am I Worth? - The Case for a $10.10 Minimum Wage.” Bloomberg Businessweek. Feb 2014: 10-13. Print. The Cost-Of-Living in Hawaii and New York are among the highest. Yet, in both states the minimum wage is set at $7.25. In his January 2014 State of the Union address, President Obama requested to raise a new federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour. This movement has progressed within the past couple of weeks since its publication in February 2014. In the following pages, I will attempt to update and fill in the gaps where the article has left off. How would you like a 40% increase in your payroll? I bet that sounds like a great idea! How about if you and your fellow coworker’s all received a 40% raise? Even better right? Now, what if that 40% increase went through with the entire nation? Although raising the minimum wage would not increase everyone’s wage, this is where the controversy starts. Set in 1938, the Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, is the fundamental compensation law in the United States. It is the federal law that establishes a minimum wage and limits the number of hours that may be worked in a standard week. It defines two categories of employees, the exempt employees and the non-exempt employees. The exempt employees are not allowed over-time pay, and non-exempt employees who are allowed overtime. The non-exempt employees are highly effected through this issue of raising minimum wage. Non-exempt employees are given the benefit of...
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...the question, how do we explain the variation of unemployment rates among the individual states? It is important to clarify exactly what the question is asking and the unit of analysis that is going to be tested. According to the Bureau of Labor, unemployment is defined as “persons who did not work or have a job during the reference period, were actively looking for work during the period and were available for work during the reference period”. Unemployment rates are therefore, the persons that were not working and were actively looking for work divided by the total available working population. The total available working population excludes those who are retired, disabled, and anyone else not interested in holding a job. For this study the unit of analysis is...
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...Shukla; Ashish; 1381406 Minimum wage INTRODUCTION The 2012 minimum wage bill in parliament is defeated, and created dissatisfaction in society, as people are really struggling to manage their lives, especially particular section of society who is unskilled and working on minimum wage. Now to understand the issues we have to look into two perceptions first from general public for whom good life means more money, second from economist mind for example Tim Maloney who studied series of data from 1985 to mid 1990 to addresses the impact of minimum wage change on teenagers and young adults. He finds negative impact of minimum wage on youth and young adults labor market, with demand elasticity of -0.35, and over longer time period -0.38(Chapple,1997). Now suppose a young adult who don’t have job and gets one but employee don’t want to pay minimum wage as he thinks he will lose money, in this situation as government has set price floor for wages and ready to pay government benefits from tax payer money but will not allow anyone to work below minimum wage, in this case government is losing money and increasing unemployment. In this situation if minimum wage increase, can create imbalance in economic structure, and if not will create dissatisfaction in normal public. EFFECT ON SOCIETY Increase in minimum wage has different impact on society; it’s suggested that some segments of society which will be affected like youth (16-18 age), adult (20+ ages)...
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...Analysis of Case Study for International Business By Assistant Professor Asif Mahbub Karim MBA, CA(Inter.), KPMG, MCFC,MBA, B.Com. PhD Research Fellow, Malaysia Coordinator – BBA & MBA Program Stamford University Bangladesh Introduction Background of the Case Established in 1972. Company has $10 billion in annual revenue. It sells in 140 countries. It only Sub Contracts. Employs 550,000 all around. Mission Statement “ Just Do It “ Accusations !! Products are made in Sweatshops. Many are Child Worker. Work in hazardous condition. Less than Subsistence Wages. Nike have become symbol of Evils of Globalization. Global Exchange – A Human Right Organization targeted Nike for repeated critisicm. Accusations !! The condition at foreign factories was at stake. Subcontractors were not matching minimum local labor laws. Long working hours. Working environment very poor. Minimum Wage rate very low. Safety & Security compliances not followed. Case Against Nike In search of cheap labor Nike looks factories as such in target countries where minimum wage level is not set. Targeting literate , disciplined and desperate job seekers. Mostly young women are hired. Labors don’t share Nike’s huge profit. They work 6 days a week for only $40 a month - just 20 cents an hour. Attack on Nike’s Sub Contracting Some factories were employing 11 years old labors in Indonesia for their sneakers. Wage as low...
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...the feeling of a minimum waged worker. Like all of those workers, I feel exhausted after finishing my job. Everyday, I wait with impatience to hear my supervisor say “That is it, turn off the belt.” After put off my safety gloves and sweep my sweat, I can only think to return to my room and sleep. I lost most of my time and energy just for a few dollars. There are a lot of people that work harder and earn less than me. The poor, especially less-skilled workers, has access only to “bad jobs at bad wages” (Blank 64). Those workers always face bad situation. They are poor. They are struggling to sustain the life of their families. On the contrary, the owners of the company where they work have a high standard of living. Bad wage is advantageous for the group of people known as traditional elites who own labor-intensive firms because it lowers production cost, thus increase the competitiveness of the product. For that reason, it is natural for the traditional elites to keep wage as low as possible. This action creates what Karl Marx wrote in The Communist Manifesto as ”naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation” (82). The minimum wage seems to be an appealing solution against these abusive exploitations. Applying a minimum wage law, government can force a wealth distribution among the owners and their lowest level workers. On Saturday, June 25, 1938, The U.S. Congress first instituted a minimum wage with the Fair Labor Standard Act. The minimum wage...
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...The debate about minimum wage and the effect it has on all aspects of an economy is one that has created differing and often conflicting viewpoints amongst economists. When looking at something so fundamental as the minimum wage, four main groups within an economic context will be impacted in some way or another; they are the firms, consumers, the labour force and the government. Minimum wage law is always a contentious issue due to the wide ranging impacts it has over the aforementioned groups, often leading to a number of contentious and often conflicting viewpoints. Economists themselves have had their trials and tribulations over minimum wage arguments, with some saying until the data is so sophisticated, “the conflicting ambitions of...
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...The Devastating Effect of Raising the Minimum Wage Raising the Federal minimum wage does not reduce poverty. If legislators raise the price of low and unskilled labor, businesses would reduce the workforce. The very laborers that are pushing for raising the minimum wage are the ones that will suffer the most. An increase in the minimum wage would lead to job loss and may result in higher prices for consumers. Minimum wage increases may result in severe economic devastation. Recently in New York between ten and fifteen thousand laborers marched in an effort to persuade lawmakers to increase the minimum wage to fifteen dollars per hour. The majority of those marching were activist students and employees of fast food industries. If protesters are successful in securing a fifteen dollar per hour minimum wage up to seventy percent of them will lose their jobs. For the first time in history, if the fifteen dollar per hour wage is approved, a fully automated solution would be an economically viable solution for struggling companies like McDonalds. Several companies are nearing commercial launch of the automated burger process. “Roboburger,” an automated burger machine can produce 8,500 burgers a day while 25 employees can produce 320 per day in comparison. If the companies are only required to pay a minimum wage of eight dollars per hour and contract labor, which means no benefits, it would still be viable to hire those 25 employees. The automation over the next few years...
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