the student factor

In all reality, the group that is going to be most affected by the minimum wage hike is students. Most of the people actually earning a minimum wage are college age or younger and it was hard to find anyone from this age group who wasn't smiling over the prospect of a raise.

The misconception here seems to be that because college students, like myself and my classmates, may not be supporting anyone other than themselves, means that we are doing just find with the minimum wage as it. I feel this is something that needs to be cleared up. At the risk of this post becoming a dramatic "woe-is-me" complaint about my lack of funds, many students find themselves in the same predicament - and contrary to popular belief, a lot of us don't have mommy and daddy to bail us out, and for that matter, we'd rather not have to rely on them.

The first problem with student employees is that we do not have the time to put in 40-hour work weeks. College students who live off campus have rent and bills to pay (which are usually higher than average in Athens), food, gas, car and cell phone payments, and some even have credit card payments. Many of us are at the same time attempting to save money to participate in academic activities such as study abroad programs and professional conferences, to enable ourselves to complete an unpaid internship (which is something many college students will inevitably have to experience), while also worrying about saving money to pay off loans at a reasonable rate once we graduate.

It is wrong to think that college students do not necessarily benefit or need this kind of pay raise. True, money management is probably not a skill most students possess, myself included, but it's also difficult to gain a better understanding when we have no money to manage in the first place. Since funds are so low, when we find ourselves in a bind, short of taking out yet another loan, there is nowhere to turn but our parents, and as previously stated, there are plenty of times where we can't even fall back on that even if we wanted to.

A large number of college students work for the university either through the work study program or through the Program to Aid Career Exploration (PACE). Work study pays the minimum wage while PACE pays students $6 an hour and students can only work up to ten hours a week for either program. There are other job opportunities on campus, such as working for Baker, that are independent of the university, but are generally well paying positions.

Melissa Van Meter, Senior Assistant Director of Needs Analysis and Student Employment in the Financial Aid Office said there haven’t been any meetings about what is going to happen to student wages next quarter.

“An e-mail was sent to the U.S. Department of Education regarding whether we have to comply or not,” she said. “I’m assuming we will, but we haven’t heard back yet.” According to Van Meter, the decision and issue will be handled not just by Ohio University’s Office of Financial Aid, but also the Payroll office and Human Resources.

Several options will need to be explored, and it is yet to be seen how this will effect students. For exampl, if they comply to the wage hike, but cut hours, it's not really benefitting students at all. If this happens, it can be assured that there will be a backlash.

helping families rise above poverty

On Election Day Ohio joined 5 other states in defying the Federal government and passed a constitutional amendment raising the state minimum wage to $6.85. This is the first time in a decade that Ohio has passed a law raising the minimum wage, and the provision in the amendment that requires the adjustment of the wage every year, will make sure that it never takes that long again.

Voters overwhelmingly supported the passage of Issue 2, with 56 percent of Ohio residents voting YES for a minimum wage hike, compared to 44 percent voting no. Whether or not voters were not aware of the provisions that would allow employers to release their records, the issue seemed to be simply overlooked.

It is yet to be seen how the raising of the minimum wage will affect both Ohio workers and the state economy.

There are other arguments that propose that the minimum wage increase will simply not help as many as proponents of the Issue would like to think. At $5.15 an hour (full time) in a two-person household with one wage-earner, that household would still make $3,000 less than the poverty level. At $6.85 an hour one would earn about $1,000 over the poverty level for a two person household, but would still not be enough to support a family.

Here’s the math:



These figures are also assuming that:
- The worker is working the equivalent of a 40-hours work week every single week
- The worker does not take any unpaid vacations, s ick days, etc.
- Does not take into account the actual pay after taxes are taken out

On the other hand, they also do not take into account:
- If a worker works more than the standard 40 hours a week
- There is no overtime pay
- A second income is not being earned either by the worker or a partner

The raising of the minimum wage will be an obvious help to those trying to support another person, or a family, especially if there are two wage earners. It is yet to be seen how families living on these wages will fare under the new law.

opinions on issue 2

The slideshow below is a compilation of opinions from Ohio residents on Issue 2. Nearly every student and resident I spoke with supported and planned on voting YES for the minimum wage increase. Even those who weren't sure if it was the best thing were still planning on voting YES for personal reasons.

what is issue 2?

Most people already know the basic idea of Issue 2 - that it will raise the minimum wage. A YES for Issue 2 will align Ohio seven other states in defying the Federal Government and raise the minimum wage from the Federal standard $5.15 an hour to $6.85.

If Issue 2 passes, Ohio will join 21 other states that currently have minimum wages higher than the Federal standard. Starting January 1, the minimum wage will not only be raised, but a stipulation would be put in place that would require the minimum wage be adjusted every Jan. 1 in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), or, simply put, according to inflation.

However, passage of this act would not affect everyone. Employees under the age of 16 or employees of businesses that bring in $250,000 or less a year will still be subject to the federal minimum wage standard. The amendment does stipulate that the federal wage will also be adjusted yearly as well. This means that while these employees may not see a pay raise next year, it is very likely they will see their wages adjusted in the years to come.

Wages less than the minimum wage would also be allowed for employees in service jobs who are paid tips (but these wages cannot be less than half the minimum), family members employed at family owned and operated businesses and individuals with mental or physical disabilities, as long as the employers have a state-issued license to do so.

There is other language in the proposed amendment, however that most people overlook. It has to do with employee records. Provisions attached to this amendment require that Ohio employers keep daily records of employee names, addresses, occupations, pay rate and hours worked (for both hourly and salary employees).

Employees would be required to release these records on demand and free of charge to any employee or any person acting on behalf of an employee. In simple terms, employees will not be asked to authorize any information released to other employees. This can include such sensitive information as social security numbers as well.

For more information read these official arguments FOR and AGAINST Issue 2.