Keep Minimum Wage at a Minimum

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DesMarie Grijalva, Contributor

Is raising minimum wage to $15.00 an hour really a good idea? Think about it. Yeah, it is more money visually, but is it truly more money in your pockets? Your everyday taxes and prices for goods such as food, clothes, etc. will be increased significantly for employers to be able to accommodate that type of payroll for each and every one of their employees.

According to Journalistresources.org, business prices could possibly and probably will be increased by at least 4.3 percent, if not more. Some people may argue that increasing minimum wage will be beneficial to low income families because they then will be able to afford their bills and everyday needs. What people fail to realize is even though they will be making more money (or so they think), that doesn’t mean that they’ll be able to afford what they could not afford before. If prices for everyday needs go up, you’re basically making the same amount as before, if not much less. Not to mention, if minimum wage does increase, there will be a huge lay off spree and a hiring freeze for those certain companies, like fast-food chains or department stores,  because they won’t be able to afford to pay their employees that much money.

Where exactly do we as a society go from here? Why should someone who may or may not have gone to college make around $15.00 an hour? Is it fair for those who did go to college to pay double for a cheeseburger? These are all questions you should ask yourself. I personally think that everyone should work for their money just as hard as everyone else in this world. We shouldn’t encourage our society to work at lower industry jobs such as McDonald’s, Walmart, Burger King, etc. Just because the minimum wage is $15.00, that doesn’t make it okay to work there unless it’s your first job. Shouldn’t we encourage everyone, both older and younger generations, to further their education and become lawyers, doctors, teachers, etc. instead of increasing the minimum wage.  In a strange way, we’re kind of encouraging the bare minimum.

Let’s take action to this topic and better our society by encouraging the people around us to accept the fact that not everything can be handed to us. By having this epiphany the economy will evolve in a positive manner.