OSHKOSH (NBC 26) — After activists speak in support of raising Wisconsin's minimum wage to $20 an hour on Tuesday in Madison, Oshkosh residents and businesses weigh the positives and negatives of such a change.
- The minimum wage in Wisconsin in currently $7.25 an hour.
- Wisconsin is among 20 states that have not changed the minimum wage since 2009.
- Some believe raising the minimum wage will help Oshkosh, while others say it will hurt the job market.
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
Sara Brewer has worked at Mojos in downtown Oshkosh for several years.
“Here is a very small business, so they try to keep up with wages, and we’re even starting to get bonuses now," she says.
She still remembers her first jobs at Sonic and Piggly Wiggly.
“I think I started at minimum wage, maybe a little above minimum wage," she says.
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The minimum wage in Wisconsin is currently $7.25 an hour.
“I know a lot of my coworkers were either constantly picking up hours or trying to make it paycheck to paycheck," Brewer says.
For Brewer, raising the minimum wage is a great idea.
“Everything else has gone up, why not wages?" she says. "I kinda view it as if I make more, then I can spend more.”
UWO freshman Will Ford also remembers his first job at a local golf course.
“I think I made $8 an hour,” he says.
Ford agrees, the minimum wage should be raised, though he says raising it to $20 seems steep.
“I feel like that might be a little high," he says. "I feel like you could definitely raise it a little, but $20 dollars seems like a lot.”
President of the Oshkosh Chamber of Commerce, Rob Kleman says raising the minimum wage will hurt Oshkosh jobs.
“Ultimately it's an increase cost on business, and that usually results in higher consumer prices, and less jobs that are available," he says.
Right now there is no formal push to raise the minimum wage; all previous attempts by democrats to do so has been stopped by the Republican-controlled legislature.
