연방 최저 임금: 최저임금 인상의 필요성

### 연방 최저임금 인상의 사례: 역사와 현재의 관점 살펴보기
* 🕰 연방 최저임금은 2009년에 마지막으로 인상되어 **시간당 7.25달러**로 책정되었으며, 이는 빈곤층 가구의 빈곤 수준보다 낮은 연 소득 **15,000달러에 불과**합니다.
* 📈 연방 최저임금은 1938년 처음 도입된 이래 꾸준히 상승해 왔지만 최근 몇 년 동안 정체되어 **애리조나와 캘리포니아 같은 주에서는 자체적으로 더 높은 임금 기준**을 설정하고 있습니다.
* 💼 월마트와 같은 기업은 노동력에 대한 시장의 수요를 반영하여 **시간당 14달러의 초임**을 제시하는 등 많은 기업이 근로자를 유치하기 위해 **연방 최저임금보다 더 많은 임금**을 지급하기 시작했습니다.
* 📊 최저임금 인상이 저임금 근로자뿐만 아니라 경제에도 도움이 된다는 증거가 있는데, **소득이 증가하면 소비자들이 더 많은 소비**를 할 수 있어 지역 비즈니스에 도움이 될 수 있기 때문입니다.
* 🔍 잠재적인 일자리 감소에 대한 우려가 있지만, 시애틀의 과거 데이터에 따르면 **2014년 최저임금 인상 이후에도 기업의 생존율은 99.3%**를 유지했습니다.
* ⚖ 의회예산국(CBO)은 **최저임금이 인상되면 빈곤층이 빈곤에서 벗어날 수 있지만, 특히 경험이 적은 근로자의 경우 일부 일자리를 잃을 수도 있다**고 지적합니다.
* 💰 임금 인상에 대한 논의가 계속되면서 인플레이션으로 인해 **15달러에서 17달러로 제안이 바뀌었고**, 공정하고 효과적인 임금 수준을 찾기 위한 논쟁이 계속되고 있습니다.
* 🗓 올해 최저임금이 인상될 가능성은 낮지만, **카말라 해리스와 같은 인물**이 향후 몇 년 동안 변화를 주장하고 있어 향후 논의에 대한 관심의 대상이 되고 있습니다.

2009년 이후 정체된 연방 최저임금은 오늘날의 생활비를 반영하기 위해 시급히 인상되어야 합니다.

Think back to the year 2009. Barack Obama had just been elected. The original Gossip Girl was still on the air, and Lady Gaga was inescapable. That was also the last time the federal minimum wage was increased. It's hard to imagine that in this day and age, $7.25 an hour is a livable wage. That's just $15,000 a year, and it's well below the poverty level for families. So is a minimum wage hike on the table when a new president takes over the White House? The federal minimum wage was first implemented in 1938 under FDR. Back then, it was just 25 cents an hour. It's steadily risen over time since, but Business Insider's Emily Stewart says in recent years, it's been stuck, and states and cities have put their own wage standards in place. Arizona's minimum, for example, is $14.35.

California's is $16, and West Virginia's is $8.75. But lots of businesses nowadays are paying more because the market demands it. They've had to increase pay to compete for workers and just to get them in the door. Just look at Walmart. Workers there now start at $14 an hour. You hear stories about people going by fast food restaurants in Texas, or really, pick your state or city, and seeing ads for $14, $15, $16 outside of fast food restaurants. It is really tough to pay the $7.25 today. Low-wage workers generally make more than their state's minimum wage basically everywhere. Raising it would lock in gains for workers, even in the event of a downturn. And there are spillover effects to hiking pay that would help more than the lowest-paid people. Every time anybody talks about raising the minimum wage, businesses act like the sky is falling.

All hell will break loose, that they will have to lay everyone off, that they will all shut down. But much of the evidence suggests that's not the case. When people have more money in their pockets, they can spend it at the grocery store, at the restaurant down the street. After Seattle raised its minimum wage in 2014, its businesses had a 99.3% survival rate. And the labor market wasn't as strong as it is now. Research suggests a higher minimum wage can increase worker productivity and lower turnaround costs for businesses because better-paid workers stick with their employers longer. I don't want to ignore the risks here. In Seattle, some workers did see their hours go down as businesses tried to compensate for having to pay them more, though most of them still did see an increase in their net pay, and less experienced workers, teens in particular, had a harder time finding jobs.

The Congressional Budget Office has this calculator that lets you play around with its estimates of the effects of a federal minimum-wage hike. It predicts a higher minimum wage would lift families out of poverty, though it also anticipates some job loss depending on how high the wage is. You can understand why that's scary for workers. Higher pay only helps if you keep your job. Still, more recent hikes, like California's new $20 minimum wage for fast food workers, haven't put tons of people out of work. There could be an impact on consumers, too, because businesses pass some wage increases into their prices. Let's say your burrito costs 10 cents more, but that's because the guy behind the counter who's making that burrito is making a living wage, and that feels like a worthwhile trade-off to me. It's impossible to predict exactly what a higher federal minimum wage would do. A lot of the effect would depend on the labor market,

competition, geography, and obviously the amount. For a long time, progressives were pushing for $15. They've now increased that to $17 because of inflation. It's hard to know the right amount, but I do think, you know, you have to figure in Washington, supposedly the land of compromise, there's really a ton of space between $7.25 and $15 or $17, and they could pick something in there that might make sense. It's unlikely minimum wage will be increased this year, but it could be on the agenda in 2025. Kamala Harris has been talking about raising it. So maybe next year it will be brought up again.

Here’s What Would Happen If We Raised Minimum Wage | Business Insider Explains | Business Insider

What you want to know about business. 

Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: https://www.businessinsider.com 
Business Insider on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/businessinsider
Business Insider on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/insiderbusiness
Business Insider on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/businessinsider
Business Insider on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/discover/Business_Insider/5319643143
Business Insider on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@businessinsider

If you have a permissions or licensing request, please connect with our partners at PARS International who will be able to provide you with an accurate quote for the overall usage rights that you’re interested in. A representative from PARS will contact you shortly after filling out this request form: https://www.parsintl.com/publications/insider/


Business Insider

연방 최저임금은 2009년 이후 시간당 7.

25달러로, 빈곤층 가구의 빈곤 수준보다 훨씬 낮습니다.

연방 최저임금은 정체된 상태지만, 애리조나주는 14.

35달러, 캘리포니아주는 16달러 등 각 주와 도시에서 자체적으로 더 높은 임금 기준을 시행하고 있습니다.

현재 많은 기업이 최저임금 이상을 지급하며 근로자 유치 경쟁을 벌이고 있습니다.

최저임금을 인상하면 저임금 근로자의 소득을 보장하고 다른 근로자에게도 긍정적인 파급 효과를 가져올 수 있지만, 기업들은 이러한 변화에 저항하는 경우가 많습니다.

시애틀의 2014년 임금 인상으로 99.

3%의 기업 생존율을 기록한 사례에서 볼 수 있듯이 최저임금 인상이 광범위한 사업장 폐쇄나 해고로 이어지지는 않았습니다.

최저임금이 인상되면 근로자의 생산성을 높이고 이직 비용을 줄일 수 있지만 일부 근로자는 근무 시간이 줄어들 수 있습니다.

잠재적인 일자리 손실과 소비자 물가 상승이 있을 수 있지만, 캘리포니아의 패스트푸드 근로자에 대한 최저임금 20달러 인상과 같은 최근의 임금 인상은 고용 수준에 큰 영향을 미치지 않았습니다.

진보 진영에서는 인플레이션을 이유로 최저임금 요구액을 15달러에서 17달러로 인상했습니다.

25달러와 제안된 금액 사이에는 상당한 차이가 있어 타협 가능성을 시사하고 있습니다.

올해 인상 가능성은 낮지만, 카말라 해리스 상원의원이 최저임금 인상을 지지하면서 2025년에 다시 논의될 가능성이 있습니다.