Low wages translate to a struggling existence
It’s no secret that minimum wage in California doesn’t support the state’s high cost of living.
What has been done to help this issue is only deceit disguised as progress, especially for college-aged adults working at the mercy of corporate America.
A livable wage in 2020 for a single adult in Contra Costa County is $16.48. The minimum wage is $12 for companies with less than 26 employees and $13 for larger firms.
On paper, the difference doesn’t seem so bad, but we need to consider what the actual costs of living are. A study in 2018 found that 40% of Americans had trouble paying for food, medical care, housing or utilities.
The average cost of rent alone in Pleasant Hill is $2,018 a month. Wages need to be able to cover more than just food for that week and rent for that month.
What low wages translate to is a struggling existence where government and corporations alike seem to be saying, “You don’t matter.”
Brooklyn Aguilar
Martinez