Comments on: Rep. Patricia Todd’s Commentary on Minimum Wage Bill

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 01 May 2007 22:03:57 +0000

Thanks, Lisa. I knew in my heart that paying differently based on age was wrong. You voiced the reason very reasonably!

By: Lisa in Hoover

Lisa in Hoover — Tue, 01 May 2007 20:37:56 +0000

Unfortunately, that same argument has been used through the years to justify paying women less than men, because women didn’t “have” to work and men were supporting them. The bottom line is that work is work, regardless of who’s performing it. The standard should not be whether you “need” the job or not but whether you’re doing it. The employer can make the call on who to hire – and can choose that adult over that teenager if he/she wants to. If you have a lower wage for teenagers, then the employers who care only about keeping wages low will hire a bunch of teenagers and the person who “needs” a job won’t be able to get one. That’s why you need a minimum wage in the first place.

By: Renee

Renee — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:44:34 +0000

I am all for raising the minimum wage. It’s appaling to me that it hasn’t been raised in 10 years! It did dawn on me, though, that there are many teenaged employees that work for extra money, not to support a family. I’m not sure we need to raise the 16 year old bus boy’s wage or the vet assistant that works after school for less than 10 hours a week the same amount as an adult. Should there be an age level that the higher wage kicks in? That sounds discriminatory, but common sense says there’s a difference between the single mother and the adolescent living at home. Just thinking out loud…