Income Inequality Essay Example for Free

Income Inequality EssayMinimum WageIncome inequality in America has become a big issue, one that many of us hear every day whether on the news or from our parents. But normally, we dont hear the certain phrase used. We hear things like the top two percent, or, the rich vs. the lamentable. So, what is income inequality? Income inequality is defined as the difference between individuals or populations in the statistical distribution of their assets, wealth, or income.So, with that in mind, why would anyone be against raising a minimum wage? At first glance, the plan does seem to be an intelligent set about to a problem thats stayed dormant for quite a while. Raising the minimum wage drastically from where it was in 2009 to now would be a uncivil and possibly inefficient way of continuing to attempt to give the poor a better way of life. in that location is one simple fact that many people simply dont look at there are more than one group of people working for minimum wage. Th ere is a myriad of people working for the federal 7.50, from teenagers on their first jobs to older people with second jobs. Jonathon Guryan, an economist at Northwestern University and a achromatic observer of the wage debate, said that Its not helping as many or as bear-sized a portion of the labor market as you probably would like.This being said, the workers that will derive from a minimum wage increase would be so diverse that the group of people we are aiming to help, the poor and desperate, wouldnt be getting all the help. Now, what of the small businesses and family companies that can hardly handle the current minimum wage? Well, theyd be taking a hit too if a drastic increase such as this were to hit. Businesses that make less money than others in their profits per year are judge to have to cut down on their expenses and lay off their workforce in order to compensate for the loss of funds. So, while the minimum wage would benefit the people in the business lucky enough t o not be laid off, those who were fired couldbe the very people we were attempting to help. Unfortunately, this could mean that a large part of the workforce that handles manual labor could be out of the job. Other businesses would not even be that lucky.There are much better ways to fight income inequality than just simply raising the federal minimum wage. Its a very black and white argument for a consequence that is not so black and white. To better improve our income equality, and therefore lift people out of poverty, we could be putting more funding into things like education, food for thought stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit (or the EITC), which is a refundable tax credit targeting people who make a low income. It would be a shame to not single miss a chance to reduce poverty now, but to forget that well all be having this same conversation in a few old age if we just raise the minimum wage. That being said, I dont believe the federal minimum wage should be raised t o $10.00 per hour.