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Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI 5: the pros and cons of raising the minimum wage.

I am in favor of raising the minimum wage. I have worked minimum wage jobs and have felt the inability to live off of it. 

Simultaneously, my father claims that it will increase prices and cause a loss of jobs. 

Thanks for all your opinions. I'm curious on everything.
gpt
**The Pros**

*Economic Stimulus*: Raising the minimum wage means minimum wage workers have more money to expend which means more money ripples throughout the economy as minimum wage employees are able to spend more.

*More opportunity for jobs*: If these minimum wage employees are spending more, then businesses are earning more and need to hire more employees to keep up with the increased sales from the minimum wage employees who are buying more.

*Reduced Expense for Social Programs*: Employees surviving at minimum wage are also often the same people who must rely on additional support of government run social programs to support themselves and their families on such a small amount of income. Raising minimum wage means some of these people would be able to better support themselves without leaning as heavily on social programs and this would ultimately mean lower taxes or a reallocation of those funds to support other needs.

*Decreased Turnover Rate*: Employees who are making a higher minimum wage feel more comfortable and satisfied in their minimum wage jobs meaning they are less likely to quit. This means there would be a lower turnover rate, which results in fewer expenses to hire and train new employees.

*Inflation*: The federal minimum wage needs to be raised in order to account for inflation, which raises every year and the minimum wage has only been risen three times in the past three decades.


**The Cons**

*Layoffs*: If an employer has a tight compensation budget and the minimum wage is raised, it means they can no longer compensate the same number of employees at a higher rate and must make layoffs to remain within budget. So, while some employees may be making slightly more money, others will be left unemployed.

*Price increase*: Employers might raise prices of their product in order to generate enough income to support their more highly paid minimum wage employees, which could ultimately create a ripple effect for other shops and industries, resulting in a slightly higher cost of living, resulting in another push to raise minimum wage again.

*Fewer Hirings*: If business must pay their minimum wage employees more, they cannot afford to hire as many employees. According to a Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago study, “10 percent increase in the minimum wage lowers low skill employment by 2 to 4 percent and total restaurant employment by 1 to 3 percent.” Or instead of hiring fewer employees, the company may start outsourcing jobs to employees in countries that are willing to work for much less than $10.10 per hour, resulting in fewer jobs for Americans.

*Competition Will Intensify*: If minimum wage increases, overly qualified individuals will be vying for minimum wage positions, pushing younger, inexperienced workers out of the running and robbing them of their opportunity to gain experience and knowledge to build a resume for themselves and enter the workforce.
Applied Inconsistently: Many states have their own set minimum wages, which are currently above $7.25 per hour already. As of January 1, 2014, 21 states (and D.C.) have minimum wages above $7.15 per hour (Washington being the highest at $9.32 per hour), so the amount the national minimum wage is set at varies in significance from state to state.

**Does This Solve the Problem of Poverty?**

Studies from both sides of the debate make it relatively clear that increasing minimum wage will not make a significant impact on the poverty level. According to the Congressional Budget Office report on The Effects of a Minimum-Wage Increase on Employment and Family Income, increasing the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 per hour will only reduce the number of people in poverty by 900,000, a relatively few portion of the 16.5 million people that would supposedly benefit from the raise. This is because of the number of minimum wage workers, relatively few are actually in poverty, and of families who live in poverty, only about 7 percent have a full-time worker in the family meaning poverty is not because people are not being paid enough, it is because they are not working or not working enough.

Some suggest that creating more jobs for people who need them rather than raising earnings for people who already have them is a better solution for reducing the national poverty rate. Of course, this does not mean that raising the minimum wage wouldn’t be greatly beneficial to those earning it, but ultimately it does not help those who do not already have jobs to begin with.