Peninsula business owners need to wake up to reality of the misfortunate folks face on the wages paid to locals.
The minimum wage of $7.75 is barely enough to keep a full-time worker above poverty guidelines of $19,430 for a single person. On the Kenai Peninsula, finding a job that will support a single person much less a family is not just a challenge but a reality that the local business owners seem to ignore.
Most people have to have more than one job, a good means of transportation (because the lack of a good transportation system on the peninsula) and for a car, pay gas and bills on a $7.75 an hour budget. It is stated that the average person on the Peninsula earns $12.50 per hour — this is nothing but a figure that is not a reality. Fewer residents are employed in high paying jobs as might be put on paper. Since no benefits go along with the job, medical payments are also a challenge. It is the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer and it is a shame. The unemployment rate runs well above the state and national averages on the Peninsula. Apartments are high — most over $600 a month with no utilities. What happened to the small communities on the Peninsula working together to help each other out, not run them into the ground?
Comments (2)
Add commentmaking ends meet
The harsh reality in this world is.. The more you learn the more you earn so go ahead and drop out of school and see where it gets you!
Robert, that is simply a rule of thumb
Not a reality. Anymore, a high school diploma is of little use to earning more unless you apply that diploma to get a higher education.
To get that higher education is getting to be a reach only those with parents of higher incomes can afford. The cost of a four year degree nationally was up 15% from 2011 alone and up a whopping 40% over two years in states such as Georgia, Arizona California and Florida. The average net cost (after grants and scholarships) for instate tuition including books is $17,800 per year.
As a nation, we need more college graduates in order to stay competitive in the global economy. But if the costs keep on rising, especially at a time when family incomes are hurting, college will become increasingly unaffordable for the middle class.