Every season, after we talk about the irony of Thanksgiving and Black Friday, the conversation over minimum wage arises. Employees sacrifice their time with family to deal with customers who are not very pleasant. Most of these workers are only earning minimum wage. No matter how many hours you work on minimum wage, it will not be enough to live on. No matter what, families whose only income comes from minimum wage are having a tough time during this holiday season.

Minimum wage is not intended to be the sole base of income. Jobs that pay minimum wage are supposed to be for people around college age. This is because we have yet to receive the qualifications to gain a high paying job. I realize that some parents never went to school to gain further qualifications because that also costs money. There are several factors as to why some families base their incomes off minimum wage.

I understand the need for a minimum wage. It was put into place in order to help and protect low-skill workers. However, when raising the mandate, owners make counter changes in their businesses. Most business owners will stop hiring and cut costs as much as possible instead of losing too much profit. Furthermore, prices might go up in order to balance the changes, which in turn leads to inflation. Anytime the government regulates something such as minimum wage, they do a poor job. It will always seem like too little or too much.

At the end of the day, minimum wage is supposed to be a minimum. If low-skilled employees earned $12 an hour, then skilled workers would earn much more. The higher we raise minimum wage, the more prices will rise. It would help a little at first; but at the end of the day, you are earning the least amount of money for your job as possible.