Many Mercer County Community College students are living below the poverty line even though they are working, and most students rely on financial aid to take classes. On top of it all, they are facing food insecurity.
When I sit down with my family to eat, I can’t help but remember that 11% of kids are facing food insecurity in Trenton according to the New Jersey Department of Health. I don’t need to be in their shoes to empathize with them.
The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and it has not increased for over a decade.
Governor Murphy signed a deal in 2019 that would see the minimum wage increasing by $1 each year for the next 3 years until it reaches $15 in 2024. Right now, the minimum wage is $12 an hour.
However, $15 an hour is not enough.
Rent has gone up, prices of food and other goods have gone up.
The problem is that New Jersey is the 9th most expensive state to live in. According to the Living Wage Calculator, in Mercer County, in a family with two kids, each parent would need to make a whopping $27.11 per hour just in order to stay above the poverty line.
That’s a wage most Mercer students could only dream of at this point in our lives.
In early March, the $1.2 trillion American Rescue Plan stimulus package was passed, but the provision for the $15 an hour minimum wage was stripped out.
Two-thirds of Americans favor raising the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour according to Pew Research. Well, that’s one thing Americans can agree on!
President Biden promised he would make the $15 per hour federal minimum wage a priority, and he is now proposing a standalone bill. However, I am doubtful it will even pass.
Small businesses however are opposed to increasing the minimum wage because they say doubling the salary of their employees will drive them out of business. On top of that, the pandemic has brought additional economic hardships for them. Many small businesses have already disappeared. That’s why increasing the pay gradually gives the economy an opportunity to catch up to changes and to keep up with inflation.
But you know what, the federal government needs to step in and help rescue small businesses. Saving small businesses should not come at the expense of neglecting the majority of the people in dire need. Federal incentives must be provided for employers that adopt the $15 an hour minimum wage.
Still, $15 an hour is not enough in New Jersey. In a state with a very low cost of living, like Mississippi, $15 per hour will move people well above the poverty line, but as we all know too well, the living cost in New Jersey continues to go through the roof. And the pandemic has brought along increased hardships, including evictions.
If $15 cannot pass in Washington, it seems a real minimum wage is out of the question.
We can not be silent. Our livelihoods are on the line because of corporate greed and influence.
Senator Bernie Sanders has been calling for the $15 dollar minimum wage for some time. He recently tweeted “I’d love to hear anyone in the Congress tell me they can live on $7.25 an hour. Guess what? They can’t!”
He added, “A $15 minimum wage is not a radical idea. What’s radical is the fact that millions of Americans are forced to work for starvation wages.”
And he’s right. These are starvation wages. We should take Bernie as an example. We should keep pushing for our right to a minimum, livable wage.
While we wait for the Bernies of the country to take over Washington, while we wait for everyone’s right to a minimum livable wage to be fulfilled, I’m feeling frustrated. I think most Americans are. A livable minimum wage is long overdue.
We can’t be afraid to speak up and say New Jersey is going to need more.
