Hawaiian legislators are advocating for an increase of the federally funded minimum wage to $10 an hour, more than $2 higher than the current federally mandated minimum wage. But the House and the Senate couldn’t agree on language for the bill and it did not get passed before the end of the legislative year in April 2013, says Hawaii Reporter.
“Several of Hawaii's 76 lawmakers wanted to increase that wage by more than $2 in two years, and in the House, representatives wanted to tie future increases to inflation. The governor asked lawmakers for a $1.50 per hour boost,” it reports.
Kati Laws, a freshman studying biology, worked as an orthodontics assistant for $9.25 an hour, in her home state of Washington. When asked about the current minimum wage ($7.25 an hour) she said, “That little is way too low to support a family. No one could get by on that.”
Not all students are for a wage increase, with some citing potential economic impacts. Isaiah Gillenwater, a sophomore in biology, said, “When the wages rise, prices of almost everything rise. It might be a short term interest, but it's not in our best interest.”
Young Ji of South Korea provided an interesting perspective on American wages, pointing out that in Korea, “Even though we're always complaining nothing changes,” the national minimum wage in Korea equates to roughly $4.50 in U.S. currency. Gabe Ribiero of Brazil, however, said he isn't as convinced of the effectiveness or the necessity of protesting. “Favelas [slums in Brazil], the ghettos, they're pretty much everything back home,” he said.
Individuals are compensated monthly in Brazil, on average about $307 USD per month, said Ribiero. When asked about the necessity of increasing U.S. wages, he responded quickly, “Definitely not. I made $9.50 an hour when I lived in California. I collected cans. You just got to look for a job that works."
California natives and BYUH students Vai Liv and Tali Tuihalangingie simply shook their heads when asked about recent boycotts and protests in their home state. “You know what you get when you sign on to work at those places,” Liv said referring to typical minimum wage positions. Both said they come from Polynesian families, and when asked about minimum wages in their parent's homelands, they laughed. Liv said, “You work for your food. Where they come from, you don't complain.” Tuihalangingie agreed. “The world is different I guess. It's the way society is now. Money doesn't run the islands. It's family.”
While teenagers, both students and full time workers, make up a percentage of the total workers on minimum wage, they only encompass roughly 20 percent according to recent studies by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. About a third of the total is made up of adult men and almost half by adult women. A large percentage of the total workers support families, while only about 7 percent have earned degrees after high school. About 4 percent all hourly workers in Hawaii work on minimum wage, representing a 7 percent decrease in the past two years, reports the bureau.