Introduction Suppose a person classified as an adult working full time cannot afford to eat, find a place to reside, and can barely get dressed. Then I guess the government of our time has broken the social contract. The minimum wage is a controversial issue because it is contested by a partisan and discriminatory public. The minimum wage I believe is the epicenter of the economist's sphere of interest as he is constantly researching its relationship to job losses. President Bill Clinton's administration proposed in 1993 that it intended to raise America's minimum wage. Liberals applauded the good faith step while their conservative counterparts expressed emotion of sorrow towards the new policy citing gloom and doom that a minimum wage increase would further hinder the economic recovery that was underway at the time, the Economic and political rhetoric has often governed the minimum wage debate (McKenzie, 10, 1994). While many people and opponents of the minimum wage claim that labor supply and demand are about a legislated wage rate, one must also consider the facts and not just the theory. Empirical evidence has shown over time that an increase in the minimum wage does not lead to further unemployment, but increases the standard of living of the most vulnerable people in society. Clinton stated that “it is difficult to raise a family on $4.25 an hour, we must make sure that the minimum wage is a living wage” (Norlund, 1997, 208) The poorest in society, those with a skill set inferiors often have access to “bad jobs with bad wages” (Card and Krueger, 47). These are largely the outcasts of society who face terrible working conditions and find themselves... middle of paper......g! The minimum wage is a program that promotes active participation in the labor market. If we want the number of citizens on welfare to decrease, we must offer them jobs that can pay a livable wage. BibliographyCard and Krueger, Alan B. The New Minimum Wage Economics. Princeton University Press, Princeton University: 1995Smith, Adam the Wealth of Nations 1798 (fifth edition, London: Methuen & Co., Ltd.)Norlund, Willis, J. Quest for a Living Wage-The History of the Federal Minimum Wage Program Greenwood Press, Wesport Connecticut: 1997 Department of Labor web page (www.dol.com) 1999 McKenzie, Richard B. Times Change Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy, San Francisco: 1994 Marx, Karl. The Communist Manifesto. Chicago: Henry Reginery Company, 1848/1954 Burger P, Fourie F How to Think and Reason in Macroeconomics, Third Edition, Juta Books