![\"\"](\"http:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/files\/2013\/02\/Diamond-Staff2online2.jpg\")
<\/a>Diamond Jenkins<\/strong> Minimum; that\u2019s a risky word to use, I know. I mean, nobody wants the minimum in anything. The least or smallest amount or quantity possible does not sound too appealing.\u00a0 It carries unfortunate implications.<\/p>\n So let\u2019s be clear: President Obama\u2019s minimum wage proposal would be a huge hike in most states, including Mississippi. The vast majority of this decision will affect– not teenage part-time workers; rather, most are at least 20 years old, over half work full time, and many are struggling to support their families.<\/p>\n In the 2013 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama called on Congress to raise the Federal Minimum Wage to $9 per hour by July 1, 2014; A whole nine dollars?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know about you, but being a broke college student, I cannot help but to be a little excited! If this new law is passed, all Mississippi employees will be entitled to earn the new national minimum wage.<\/p>\n When considering the effects of a possible increase, according to Economy Policy.org, this would raise the wages of about 28 million workers, who would receive nearly $40 billion in additional wages over the phase-in period. Across the phase-in period of the minimum-wage increase, gross domestic product (GDP)would increase by roughly $25 billion, resulting in the creation of approximately 100,000 net new jobs over that period. Those who would see wage increases do not fit some of the stereotypes of minimum-wage workers.<\/p>\n Women would be disproportionately affected, comprising nearly 55 percent of those who would benefit.<\/p>\n Nearly 88 percent of workers who would benefit are at least 20 years old.Although workers of all races and ethnicities would benefit from the increase, non-Hispanic white workers comprise the largest share (about 56 percent) of those who would be affected.<\/p>\n A 42 percent of affected workers have at least some college education, while\u00a0 54 percent of affected workers work full time, over 70 percent are in families with incomes of less than $60,000, more than a quarter are parents, and over a third are married. The average affected worker earns about half of his or her family\u2019s total income.<\/p>\n A gallon of milk costs $4.59. A gallon of gas costs $3.75. A loaf of bread costs $5.00, but the federal minimum wage rate stands at $7.25.<\/p>\n How are college graduates supposed to support themselves with such low pay? Should we be eager or concerned about this new idea?<\/p>\n It sounds like the up and coming Jackson State University graduates will have a lot more to worry about rather than living at home with mom and dad.<\/p>\n The views expressed in the commentary are those of the writer(s) and in no way represent the views of The Blue & White Flash.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Diamond Jenkins Blue & White Flash \/ Associate Editor Minimum; that\u2019s a risky word to use, I know. I mean, nobody wants the minimum in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_plus_post_options":"{}","editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.jsums.edu\/jsuflash\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBlue & White Flash \/ Associate Editor<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nObama\u2019s $9\/hour minimum-wage proposal is higher than that in every state.\u00a0 The minimum wage is $7.25 per hour for employees in Mississippi, with exceptions for tipped employees, some student workers, and other exempt occupations. Would this affect you? Are you concerned?<\/p>\n