LETTER: Raise the minimum wage

To Utah: Mitt Romney should have voted to raise the minimum wage.

Here’s why: I was forced to move away from Utah thanks to it’s unlivable minimum wage. I was raised my whole life in Logan, a Utahn born and bred. I love the nature in the state, I love the small towns, I even love the Mormons. I especially love my family, many of whom still reside in Utah.

However, I faced a problem. As much as I love living with my parents, I’m old enough now (nearing 30) that I desperately wanted my own place. Crazy dream, I know. Try as I might, especially in Logan with the university, there are no places in Utah you can rent for a reasonable percentage of your income when your income is on the lower end of the spectrum.

“Get a better job” I’m sure people are saying.

I did, but the best place to find a better job that pays more than poverty wages is outside of Utah. I moved to Illinois, where my rent is the same and I now make $20 an hour and live substantially more comfortably. My new higher income pays several thousand dollars in Illinois taxes, I generated who knows how much consumer activity with my expanded purchases, I contributed towards land value by driving up demand in rents that I could actually afford, and my presence in the state adds towards their numbers in the House of Representatives.

I found a better job, but I had to leave my state behind. I didn’t want to, but I did what I had to do.

It felt like my Utah was telling me to take my money elsewhere, so I did. It is a market after all. But that’s no way to run a successful business.

Raise your minimum wage to a livable wage Utah, and I will move back with my money. Make Utah livable for those with lower incomes and larger families. Otherwise, I will continue to shop at your competitors and you will lose out on all my money.


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5 Comments

  • Blayne March 6, 2021 at 7:43 pm Reply

    LOL – sounds like you left too soon. Lots of places are hiring around Logan with starting wages $14-$17 / hr. With a raise after just a few months. Oh well, enjoy crime riddled Illinois. Once again – who in their right mind says, “I can’t wait to make minimum wage one day?!”
    Nobody.

    Try this Taylor. Start a small business, and pay your employees $15/hr. Heck, why stop there – the more the better, right? Pay them $25/hr. See how long your business lasts.

  • Jed March 7, 2021 at 9:22 am Reply

    Simple supply and demand takes care of the hourly wage in a local community. As a local manufacturer in Cache Valley, it’s been years since we have paid the current minimum wage. Local businesses competing for workers in an area with low unemployment are forced to pay higher hourly wages just to get individuals to work for them. Forcing businesses, especially new start up businesses to pay their employees an hourly wage that is higher than what a business can afford to pay will not only force them to close their doors but will force those that can stay open to reduce the number of hours that full time employees normally get. Forget any overtime hours that many employees were receiving.
    Businesses would be forced to raise their prices to stay profitable. Who pays for those more expensive products? We all do!

  • LD March 7, 2021 at 11:05 am Reply

    Minimum wage is just that, minimum. It’s not meant to support a family or a 30-year-old adult, it’s a gateway into the workforce. Consider training for some job skills or research some career ideas you would enjoy and figure out how to get there. There’s no magic bag of money that benefits people who are struggling, but raising minimum wage comes out of the pockets all of us. It’s basic economics 101.

  • Your mom March 7, 2021 at 9:57 pm Reply

    ….team utah says its okay if you dont move back

  • Barton E Boothe March 8, 2021 at 1:17 pm Reply

    Yours is an eternal issue where ever one lives. Spending always matches regardless of the earnings. When the minimum wage is systematically increased nationwide it creates more dollars chasing after the same products. A weird thing happens with that. It’s called forced inflation. Within a few years, the prices increase so dramatically across the board that the old problem rears its head and the increased earnings are again no longer adequate.

    James Madison realized that one’s personal needs drive him into a new and higher-earning field. When your field doesn’t pay enough you do what it takes to put food on the table. That means upgrading your skill level so that you are more valuable to an employer; finding a different job that pays more, starting and struggling with your own business, and coming to realize that goverment interference and dictates, solve no problems, but long-range magnify them.

    Hope you do well in your new location. Understand your loss as we left Portland, downsized, and are very happy in Cache Valley. In twenty years use the inflated value on your home in Illinois, return to Logan use your equity to purchase a home free and clear. In the meantime, we will miss you, and lament our loss of your family’s presence.

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