Gov. Steve Beshear’s announcement that he will raise the minimum wage for about 800 state workerscomes at a time when states and cities around the country are considering similar moves.
Louisville will take the first step to raise this city’s minimum wage in July. WFPL intern Henrietta Reily asked several Louisville residents how they feel about the change.
“There are adults out here that are trying to support their families, so getting paid $10 an hour is a lot better than $7. It makes me really happy. They’re still trying to survive and feed their families and seven dollars for adults is not enough." — Elias Feghaly
“I think that the minimum wage has to be reviewed because it’s important that people have a living wage. It’s not a one-sided issue. We also have to understand what impact that’s going to have on jobs and what impact it’s going to have on prices, but I think we’re at a point that it’s a step in the right direction. Really unless you can get 10 or even 13 or $15 an hour, it’s really hard to break the cycle of poverty.” — Scott Haner
“I think it needs to be adjusted for the inflationary costs coming out of the recession, but yeah, I think that it should be adjusted.” — Bob Keesaer
“Every time we raise wages—which is again a good thing—that means the consumer is going to be paying more. I don’t think everybody thinks about the effect it has on everything. They just think, 'Oh, yeah! Let’s give these people their money,' which is a good thing, but there is a cause and effect at play there. I couldn’t imagine trying to survive on a $7 wage, so I would be in favor of raising that even if that meant I had to pay more for goods and services.” — Tom Whittenghill
“Yes, I love it. It needs to be raised. You can’t do nothing off no $7.25. You can’t do that. Yeah, it needs to be raised, because some jobs, it’s only $8.25 [per hour] and you can’t do nothing off of that either.” — Rose Parker