Capstone | Published December 12th
We are the 35%
A look into the lives of several college students
as they navigate going to school full time
and working part time and full time jobs.
by Jenna Lennon
Nearly four years after former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed into law the bill that increased the minimum wage to $11 in 2014, Gov. Charlie Baker has followed suit, signing legislation in June raising the state’s minimum wage to $15.
Baker’s so-called ‘Grand Bargain’ is the compromise bill that kept issues such as paid leave, minimum wage, and sales tax off of the November ballot.
The legislation allows all workers to take up to 12 weeks of paid leave to care for a sick family member or new baby; up to 200 hours of paid leave for their own medical needs; gradually raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 by 2023 and phase out time-and-a-half pay; and finally, requires the state to hold an annual sales tax holiday.
The issues regarding paid leave and a $15 per hour minimum wage were sponsored by Raise Up Massachusetts, a state coalition of grassroots organizations and religious and community groups.
"As the minimum wage increases to $15 an hour over the next few years, 840,000 Massachusetts workers will get a pay raise,” said Andrew Farnitano in an email statement on behalf of Raise Up MA.
“That's one in four workers with more money in their pockets to pay the bills, save for major expenses, or spend at local businesses,” Farnitano said.
Gov. Patrick’s increase from $8 to $11 in 2014 was high among U.S. states at the time, but the state’s minimum wage has since fallen behind after states like California and New York and cities like Seattle, WA signed legislation to increase minimum wage to $15 in 2016.
Those who oppose the increase in minimum wage believe that businesses it will force businesses to cut down on new hires or hours for current employees, which will actually leave workers worse off.
Such is the case from a 2017 study from the University of Washington published by the National Bureau of Economic Research. The study analyzes the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance which increased the minimum wage from $9.47 to $11 in 2015 and to $13 to 2016. The study found “that the Seattle Minimum Wage Ordinance caused hours worked by low-skilled workers (i.e., those earning under $19 per hour) to fall by 6.9% during the three quarters when the minimum wage was $13, resulting in a loss of around 3 million hours worked per calendar quarter and more than 5,000 jobs.”
But a new study published this year (the NBER Working Paper Series published by the National Bureau of Economic Research from the same authors) concluded that minimum wage is a complicated subject. Their findings stated that minimum wage affects different groups of workers differently, which forces policymakers to consider how a minimum wage increase affects various groups. The study also found that more workers received benefits from the increase than those that were left worse off.
Even so, Raise Up MA continues to fight for $15.
“A $15 minimum wage means that working people will be better able to meet their basic needs, and more money spent at small businesses will help them grow and create more jobs," Farnitano stated.
He continued, “We will continue to do this work until every worker in Massachusetts has a livable wage, family-supporting benefits, and a transportation and education system that lifts people up, funded by the wealthy paying their fair share. We’re not willing to wait to win the gains that Massachusetts workers need. We are only getting started.”
And one of those groups, often overlooked in the debate of minimum wage increases, are college students.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, 35.3 percent of recent high school graduates were enrolled in college while also working part time or full time, nationally, in 2016.
As the cost of living rises faster than pay rates, the stories of college students, some paying their way through their undergraduate career and others just paying for incidentals, go unheard.
Click below to listen to some of their stories.
Did you know:
"The citizen-initiated ballot measure can be a tool to increase a state’s minimum wage, as well as a threat to legislators to increase the minimum wage," according to Ryan Byrne, a Marquee Staff Writer for State Ballot Measures for ballotpedia.com.
"As of 2018, there are 23 states, along with Washington, D.C., where citizens can initiate ballot measures to increase the minimum wage. Seventeen (74 percent) of these states, along with D.C., have a minimum wage above the federal law of $7.25/hour. These states don’t fall along a Democratic-Republican axis either. Ten (44 percent) of the laws were enacted in states that Trump won in the 2016 presidential election. There are six states that have the initiative process that have not increased their minimum wages above $7.25—Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming."
Part I: Madison Umina
Madison Umina, a sophomore marketing major at Emerson College, works about five days every week at Starbucks while taking three classes.
"With Starbucks, they really need people to open because no one wants to do that," Umina said. "They open so early in the morning, at 5:30 a.m., so I typically work morning shifts and two days a week I open."
Part II: Benji Dunaief
Benji Dunaief, a senior visual media arts major, works as the Equipment Manager for the Emerson Channel, the college's student-run closed-network television station.
"The breakdown of how I spend my time between classes and work is definitely pretty fluid," Dunaief said. "Since my job can be conducted a lot of the time through the Internet and through email and text messages and phone calls, I do find myself working a lot of odd hours...and that's just because you never know when a show is going to have a problem."
Part IV: Rebecca Johnson
Rebecca Johnson, a senior writing, literature and publishing major at Emerson College, works her two jobs anywhere from twenty to thirty hours each week.
"Thursdays are my crazy day," Johnson said, "where I'll be in class from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then work 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. and then class 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. But most other days I'll usually work in the morning so from like 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. and then have classes in the afternoon or evening. And I have some days that I have classes - just classes - in the morning or some days that I just work in the morning and then I use the free time that I have to work the social media job which is more on my own time and I make the hours for that."
Part V: Kayla Carcone
Kayla Carcone, a senior writing, literature and publishing major, spends upwards of thirty hours each week between her three part-time jobs.
"The fun thing about graduating a semester early is that I lose my on-campus jobs earlier than I would have but obviously I'm saving a lot of money by graduating early," Carcone said. "Fun fact did have to crowdsource money to pay for a summer class so that I wouldn't have to pay to take one course or two courses or something like that for the spring semester.