Nearly six years into recovery from the Great Recession, the American economy remains fundamentally broken. In fact, inequality is getting worse: since 2009, 95 percent of gain in income has gone to the top one percent of earners. Private employers have created more than 8 million jobs, but nearly two thirds are low wage positions. However, even as most Americans struggle to tread financial water, corporate profits have soared to record highs. 

The unfortunate news is that the bottom rung of the American economy is growing crowded. Approximately 3.8 million Americans now attempt to live at or below minimum wage.  The stereotypical image of a minimum wage worker was once a teenager flipping burgers. However, things are much different in reality. More than half of all minimum wage earners are 25 or older, which means many are struggling to provide for entire families on extremely low incomes.

I have worked low-income jobs for nearly 5 years to support my college education, and I can see both sides of the debate concerning raising the minimum wage. Let’s be clear: supporting just myself on a minimum wage budget is extremely difficult. 

It has to be especially difficult for someone like me, a waitress, to support an entire family. The minimum pay for waitresses in Mississippi is $2.13 an hour, because tips supposedly make up the amount minimum wage would cover. 

Some minimum wage earners may receive financial help from grants, their families or the GI Bill, but it doesn’t always make getting by much easier. My own bills, groceries, car repairs, oil changes, gas, clothes and other expenses eventually add up and become overwhelming. I cannot imagine providing for a family on top of all these things with my current budget. 

It makes sense that many people want the minimum wage increased. It is often proposed  that the minimum wage go from $7.25 to $15 an hour. However, we must also consider how this increase would affect business owners. 

California recently increased their minimum wage because of astronomical living prices in their densely-populated state. According to The Huffington Post, this wage increase hurt many small business.

Higher prices must be integrated in order for employee wages to increase. This can lead to less consumption of products, which, in worst-case scenarios, can lead to businesses closing their doors. 

When businesses close, they can no longer employ anyone. This could lead to a spike in the unemployment rate and an excess of people relying on government support to meagerly provide for their families. 

While I can see both sides of the wage-increase debate, I do not think wages should be raised. Instead, I think the real problem is that a majority of those working minimum wage jobs do so because they could not afford college educations. 

I think the cost of higher education is far too high, and it is the lack of college education that often makes finding a job that offers decent pay next to impossible for people. I don’t believe those with families to support should have to work minimum wage jobs, which, in an ideal world, would still be occupied mostly by teenagers and those only supporting themselves.