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Minimum wage not meant to support a family

I do not accept the premise that "a" minimum wage job is meant to support "a" family. Think about it. What type of jobs are minimum wage? Who takes them? And what safety net exists to help those few who actually must support their family on minimum wage?

Minimum wage is for a teenager's first job. It is for low-skill workers to earn something while they gain skills. It is for mother or retiree looking for a little spending cash, something to do that they love, that fits their schedule - without stress. These jobs include hamburger flippers, retail sales, apprentices, park district referees, etc.

Most earning minimum wage will earn more as time progresses and they gain skills and move on to new jobs with more responsibility and commensurate pay. Raising minimum wage will simply doom low-skilled would-be workers to remain unemployed and unskilled.

As for those trying to support a family, there is Earned Income Credit, housing assistance, food stamps and Medicaid. This class warfare that President Obama, Sen. Dick Durbin and the rest of the Democrats are trumpeting is an insult to the intelligence of anyone who is actually thinking. Class warfare is destroying opportunity. Class warfare is keeping the poor poor.

Jan Shaw

Wheaton

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