While attending a series of graduations recently, I had an epiphany.
Through all the hustle and commotion, I realized that the number of graduates using their degrees toward careers will be fewer than the number who will work minimum wage jobs.
As many know, minimum wage is currently $8.00 an hour in California.
For $8.00 an hour, many young people are working even at ungodly hours of the day in order to make ends meet.
I believe that California’s current minimum wage is not high enough for the millions of hard-working people who deserve better compensation.
In order to help our young people, especially recent college graduates, California’s minimum wage should be raised.
A pay of $8.00 an hour is not enough for workers who have to deal with rude, ill-mannered customers and harsh, unfeeling bosses.
It’s unfair when minimum wage workers have to deal with managers who expect the world of them. As student-workers, we can do only so much.
Oftentimes, student-workers have a great deal of difficulty balancing their time between school and work. Minimum wage doesn’t help this.
There are many factors that account for the large number of people who are employed at minimum-wage companies like McDonald’s, Jack in the Box and Forever 21.
Rising college tuition rates have placed innumerous students in thousands of dollars of debt.
According to a study by the American Association of University Professors, nearly one in 10 full-time, traditional undergraduate students is employed for at least 35 hours a week.
The low number of full-time employed undergraduate students results in those students’ staying longer in college, according to the AAUP study.
A pay of $8.00 an hour is not enough for full-time college students who have to pay for gas, tuition, clothes and food.
As many students know, there is not enough time in the day for what is expected of minimum wage workers.
It’s nearly impossible for students to work a six-hour shift off campus, drive home, shower and study for the following day’s exams.
It is the minimum-wage workers, not the wealthy, who clothe, feed and cater to most Americans.
Minimum-wage workers are the backbone of America. We hold the weight of this country on our shoulders.
Yet, for all of our hard work, we are treated as the lowest of the low.
Many will agree that the least California can do is raise its minimum wage.
It’s time to cut us a break. We can’t stay overloaded anymore.
Jovanna Madrigal is a junior journalism major and an assistant opinions editor at the Daily 49er.