Do the benefits of raising the minimum wage outweigh the drawbacks?

This seems to be an opinion based question, I will provide you with both a yes and no response with arguments to support it and you can choose which one best suites your beliefs:

Yes, the benefits of raising the minimum wage outweigh the drawbacks. By raising the minimum wage you increase the quality of life for workers. Many full time workers are unable to afford housing or groceries in this economy on the minimum wage. At $7.25/hour and 40hrs/week is $290 before taxes. This is not enough income to cover the basic costs of living in most places. If people earned more money they would have more money to spend and corporations would profit from an increase in sales. Also, workers wouldn't have to depend so much on government services such as food stamps and section 8 housing assistance because they would be able to support their families with their own income. This would free up funds for government to provide more for the school systems, better healthcare and/or infrastructure.

No, the benefits of an increased minimum wage would not outweigh the drawbacks. The drawbacks of a higher minimum wage are significant because they most directly effect small business owners. The "mom and pop shop" owners depend on paying low salaries in order to keep their doors open. If they were forced to increase their pay rates, by what many minimum wage supporters suggest: more than double, they would not be able to afford employees to keep their doors open. Also, government agencies would be forced to pay their low-level workers as much as $15/hr which could become a tax burden on the citizens who pay for the salaries of all government employees. Raising the minimum wage would be detrimental to the economy because small companies and the government could not afford to support the salaries and benefits of their workers.

No, because raising the minimum wage would actually make there be a big loss of jobs. If the wage were higher, for example, a company, they would have to reduce hours and use other methods to save money.

I hope this answers your question!