Over the course of almost all of our lives, we’ve probably spent some time working a minimum wage job. Whether it was scanning someone’s groceries, serving someone fast food or bussing tables at a local restaurant, many of us spent a portion of our lives making minimum wage for a few extra bucks to have spending money. In some parts of the country, however, people are attempting to make a living off of minimum wage, and it isn’t quite working for them. Due to this, it is a hot topic in the current election, and some candidates are working to have the current minimum wage move from $7.25 to $15. Whether people are feeling the Bern, Cruz-ing with Ted or supporting their candidate with another clever pun, not everyone has a concrete opinion on this topic. That’s why I interviewed UW-L students and my friends, Charlotte Plehn, who identifies as a Republican, and Annie Gonring, who identifies as a Democrat, in order to get a good look at both sides of this wage-war.

I talked with Annie first, and she addressed some very good points. Within seconds of asking my first question, she answered, “It’s essential to pay our working class adequately. No one should be working 40 hours a week and still be below the poverty line.” She also referenced the a portion of the Preamble of the US Constitution, which states that it’s the government’s duty to promote the general welfare of the people, thereby giving wages that follow inflation rates and cost of modern living. In her interview, you could tell that she felt this way, not because she wanted to be handed $15 an hour, but because she felt concerned for the families living in unfit housing, struggling to feed their families off of what little they could make.

Next, I talked with Charlotte, who is also passionate about this topic, but in the opposite direction. When I asked her about it, she started off by saying, “Minimum wage is meant for minimal skills, and not meant to be a ‘living wage.’” She then gave a few different examples of easy ways for people to gain job-specific skills, such as becoming a state-certified CNA. She brought up the point that the wage is supposed to follow inflation, but that $15 might be too big of a jump at this time. While inflation is a very real issue that our economy is facing, doubling the minimum wage might not be what’s best for our economy. Small business, a large part of our economy, would suffer, and many would have to lay off workers in order to stay open, leading to higher unemployment rates. Many larger corporations might also start implementing technology where there were originally laborers in order to save money, causing a decrease in employment rates.

Having the opportunity to interview Annie and Charlotte was very eye opening, and gave me two very different perspectives on this issue that I didn’t have before. I do believe that the government does have the obligation to enforce living wages for citizens of the country; by doing this efficiently, they could reallocate spending from resolved welfare cases, and benefit the economy. On the other hand however, increasing the wage to $15 right away might be a little excessive. I do believe that a wage similar to that is necessary in states with high costs of living, but applying that to the nation as a whole may be detrimental to the federal economy. In the end, I came to believe that we need to find a way to agree on a wage that is higher than it is currently, that could help struggling citizens, but not potentially harm the economy as drastically.