One in four high school students, on average, work. Thats about 3.1 million students over the age of 16. Some do it just for some extra money for gas, going out to eat, movies, ect. Some maybe work to help support their families.
“I work to get money so I can buy things I enjoy,” said Junior Blaze Solberg. “I also can get gas so I can use my car to go places.”
Most high school jobs sit at minimum wage. Currently minimum wage is at $7.25. There is a recent discussion on what minimum wage should be. President Obama in his latest State of the Union Address talked about the wage and where it should be set. He wants to raise it to $10.10 an hour.
“I don’t think raising minimum wage would be a good idea because hours at the stores would be cut for the employees,” said Senior and Subway employee Whitney Nyholm. “The business wouldn’t be making as much money so they would be trying to save as much as they could.”
Dan Mcelroy from Hospitality Minnesota said he believes there should be a differential in minimum wage between High Schoolers and those working to support families.
“I realize that you can’t really support a family only making $7.25 an hour,” said Junior Maverick Flesher, “but I think raising minimum wage would just overall cause problems with higher prices and less money for businesses.”
Some states currently have a higher minimum wage than the federal limit. Such as California at $9.00 an hour. Although in California you will find yourself paying much more for simple items, and the cost of living is higher along with taxes.
Minnesota is still debating on the topic, but for now there are no set raises in Minnesota for minimum wage unless the government changes the federal standard.
