As young adults in college, having a part-time job that pays minimum wage is normal in our society. We might want some extra cash in our pockets for the weekend, or we want save our money to pay for books. Research by the fightfor$15.org, however, shows the average age of a person working a minimum wage job in this country is 36. The minimum wage job no longer symbolizes a stepping stone for a young adult’s future. A minimum wage job, now, sadly symbolizes someone’s career.
Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour has been discussed in many of the Democratic presidential debates this past year, which Tyler Grudi criticized in last week’s newspaper. He believes that raising the minimum wage is not the right answer. Every American has the right to his or her opinion. However, as a nation, how can we let our fellow citizens live in poverty? There are many families in this nation in which both parents work more than 40 hours a week, who work two or three jobs, who are raising a family and still live below the poverty line. How can we let our neighbors live off of only $15,000 a year?
There was a time in this country when a person could graduate from high school and not go to college. A person could find a well-paying job, raise a family, work for 40 years, retire and receive a well-funded pension. Today, it is a different story. A person needs a college degree to find a well-paying job, if they can find one. College degrees are often difficult to earn, because parents can’t afford to send their children to school. The cycle continues, as their children are forced to work low-wage jobs and has resulted in 64 million Americans working minimum wage jobs, according to fightfor$15.org. Of the 64 million Americans, 37 percent have a college degree.
Now, if you believe that raising the minimum wage would hurt corporations, decrease the demand of the commodity and raise prices, then let’s look at our beloved McDonald’s.
McDonald’s pays workers an average of $7.25 an hour. Last year, in 2015, McDonald’s gave its shareholders $9.4 billion. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would not put a dent into that figure. Prices on products rise every year, due to inflation, yet wages remain stagnant. Would the demand of McDonalds product ever decrease? I highly doubt it.
Raising the minimum wage will benefit this country more than it will hurt it. Millions of Americans and their families live below the poverty line. One in three children in this country live below the poverty line. It is an epidemic. All of the hunger and fatigue in this country can be reduced if we, as a country, stand up for our fellow Americans, our neighbors, and tell corporations that they must pay their workers a living wage or the cycle of more and more Americans living in the poverty will grow and grow each generation to come.
Denis Riordan is a contributing writer to the Bona Venture.
His email is riordada14@bonaventure.edu
