Home > Talk of East Texas > Archives > 2009 > July > 25 > Entry
Wage hike to hit some workers’ pay
It might not equate to a windfall for a lot of workers, but some local workers on Friday were grateful for their federally mandated raise.
The federal minimum wage rose from $6.55 hourly to $7.25.
“It’s not a big difference, but every little bit helps,” said Nikki Phillips of Longview, who works at the Shell gas station on Judson Road.
“Any raise is good,” agreed Longview resident Roger Bat, who works at City Walk Boutique in the Longview Mall. “More money is always better, right?”
Others didn’t think the increase was enough to keep up with rising prices.
“It makes a pretty small difference,” said Tyler Jones, who works at Chick-fil-A in the Longview Mall. “Because everything else is going up more.”
Under the new rate, a full-time worker making minimum wage will earn $28 more a week ($1,456 a year) before taxes, but an official at Longview Economic Development Corporation said Friday’s increase won’t affect most local businesses.
What do you think of the minimum wage raises?
Comments
By Barack
July 29, 2009 10:27 PM | Link to this
If $7.25 per hour is good, why not make it $25 or $50. Oh, what the heck, make it $100 per hour. It will be that high sooner or later. By then gasoline will cost $50 a gallon and the No. 1 at Whataburger will be $75. You think I’m being facetious. It will happen if we continue to raise the minimum wage. Everytime it goes up, so does everything else.
By Buck
July 26, 2009 9:04 AM | Link to this
The minimum wage should be $10.00. No one can live on less in todays economy.If employers dont like paying it,they can do the job.I dont mean pay illegals, send them home & pay citizens a living wage.If the companies can`t afford $10.00 they can lay off some those Fat Cats in the office making the big bucks & let them try to live on unemployment.The people doing the work & making the business money are getting peanuts while gold brickers play cards on the computer & produce little.
By Bill Crout
July 25, 2009 7:42 PM | Link to this
The same old warmed over comments come out everytime the minimum wage goes up.
You get what you pay for. If you want good workers, pay for them to keep them.
By BB
July 25, 2009 12:10 PM | Link to this
This is from www.lowwagework.org/facts MYTH: Most low-wage workers are teenagers, illegal immigrants or high school dropouts. FACT: America’s low-wage workers are mostly (nearly two-thirds) white, female, high school educated and have family responsibilities. Teenagers comprise only 7% of the low-wage workforce. Minorities and women are disproportionately found in low-wage jobs and occupy the lower rungs of the ladder within this workforce.
By Philip
July 25, 2009 11:16 AM | Link to this
Look for minumum wage jobs to be lost. Maybe not here in East Texas, but nationwide jobs will be lost. A minimum wage hike sounds good in theory, but in reality the economic consequences are not good. Economists predict 300,000 of the 2,800,000 minimum wage jobs are going to vanish. That does not bode well for our young people - most of whom are the minimum wage workers. Unemployment for workers between 16-24 is already at 24%. It will go higher…Then where do our young people go.