65. The expert quoted in the article believes
______.
A. there's no point in
teenagers having dream
B. it is wrong to desire to
live the life of a celebrity
C. young Britons have the
same ambitions as their parent
D. children should set
practical goals when they think of their career
C
STEVE Wayne, 16, who worked this summer as a lifeguard and swim teacher
in Idaho Falls, was thrilled to see an extra $20 in his paycheck when the federal (联邦政府的) minimum wage (最低工资) increased in July.
"When you''re getting paid minimum wage,
anything helps," Wayne
said.
Wayne is
one of several hundred thousand American teenagers who earn the minimum wage.
The last of three recent increases took the minimum from $5.15 an hour in 2007
to $7.25.
US
Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says the minimum-wage increase will pump an
extra $5.5 billion into the economy over the next year, which is helpful at a
time when the economy is hurting.
"You''re giving people who spend money a
raise," said Kai Filion of the Economic Policy
Institute. "Those people will go out and spend that money, and it will
circulate through the economy."
But other economists say raising the wage actually hurts the very people
it''s designed to help. A higher hourly minimum, they
say, could force businesses to cut workers'' hours, or even lay people off.
"What matters for people earning minimum wage is how much money
they take home in total," explained Rajeev Dhawan
of Georgia State University''s Economic Forecasting
Center. "Their hourly rate may go up, but their number of hours may come
down, so it''s not an overall (总体的) increase."
Business owners also say that raising the minimum wage exerts (施加) upward pressure on other
wages. "If the minimum wage is $7 and I have to pay $8 or $9 to hire a
dishwasher, then the cooks are going to say they want more," said
Cleveland restaurant owner Rick Cassara. "How
much can I charge for that hamburger?"
Another argument is that it makes it more expensive for businesses to
hire new workers. For many businesses already struggling to make ends meet in
these tough times, it will be simply too expensive to keep them or to hire new
people.
