The minimum wage in Kentucky is currently $7.25. There is much debate over this and many people are divided on the subject. Some think it needs to be raised and others don’t. Today we will be looking at the facts so you can form your own opinion on it.

We are currently in the longest stretch of time in between a U.S. minimum wage increase since 2009. The time before 2009 was 1997; a 12 year gap. The last time we had a wage increase was in 2007, so we currently are in a 15 year gap and still increasing. If nothing else, we are long past due.

Another issue is the fact that it’s objectively not enough money. $7.25 is $58 dollars a day, $406 dollars a week, and around $1,600 before tax, assuming you work 8 hours a day. Remember that this is before taxes, meaning you are making less than this on minimum wage. The median rent price in Kentucky is around $1,300 a month on average, so that only leaves you $300 a month for yourself. Even if you don’t rent, you may have to pay home insurance or pay off a house. Most of the time these things cost several thousands of dollars a month, making it hard to buy much of anything off of minimum wage. 

“The economy changed. Cars were only a few thousand then but now it’s tens of thousands. Prices have only gone up so does minimum wage,” Alyson Sherrard, a sophomore at Bullitt East said. The reason the minimum wage even has to change is to combat inflation. Inflation is something that happens in an economy where the value of money shrinks due to an excess of paper money.  Paper money was first used as a direct translation of gold. For example, if America was in possession of one hundred thousand dollars worth of gold, then one hundred thousand dollars worth of paper money would be printed. However, America got greedy and printed more paper money than gold, eventually making the dollar worth less over time.

“The entire point of minimum wage is it needs to be the bare outmount of money you can live off of and it hasn’t been that way for a while. I don’t think it needs to be anything super high but it definitely needs to be higher,” Hamilton Wise, a sophomore at Bullitt East said. Back when minimum wage was higher relative to the cost of living, one minimum wage job could support a small family. Now a minimum wage can barely cover the costs of a single person. The minimum wage should be enough money for a single person to provide for a small family. So why isn’t it raised?

There is no clear reason why the minimum wage hasn’t been raised. The most likely reason realistically is that most CEOs of large companies have a say in politics not only in America, but the world. It will cost companies much more money to pay employees a fair wage, and although this will make it harder for new businesses to be successful, it will lead to a better future than the alternative.