Fifteen dollar-per-hour minimum wage was recently approved by the Montgomery County council to begin in 2021. This was one step in a nationwide movement.

“I think that [increasing the minimum wage is] going to help out in a way because more people will be able to afford more things, but at the same time, things are going to get pricey… There are always people [who can only get minimum wage jobs] who live off of that one check… [now] they’ll able to afford more,” junior Luis Amaya said.

“I don’t know if [raising minimum wage will help me],” freshman Diana Sophia Yanes said. “Having to think about [prices] increasing… seems to be adding more stress to students. I’ll just be getting out of school [in 2021] and I’m going to be thinking about college and all the supplies. That’s a lot [of money already].”

Current freshmen, who will graduate in 2021 feel this will most affect them because many of them will be getting their first jobs under the new wage hike. “I tend to agree that if you increase minimum wage, you’ll probably have less minimum wage jobs,” engineering teacher Edward Graf said.

“I don’t think it will have a big impact [on prices]. I think it’ll more likely on employment levels. I think prices will stay the same, but I think there won’t be as many people getting hired,” Graf added. “When I was 19, I was making $11 an hour and… that was a lot to be making, but that’s less than minimum wage is right now.”

“It’s great for people who are trying to survive. You can’t earn a living on the current minimum wage. When I was earning minimum wage [around 1982] it was $3.35,” history teacher Adam Schwartz said. “I think businesses will use it as an excuse to raise their prices, but it’s the humane thing to do for working-class Americans.”

Alexander Tsironis is a local Montgomery County celebrity through his popular Twitter account, @TheMoCoShow. The only political issue featured on his page has been for the movement to raise the minimum wage in Montgomery County to $15. He supports this to help teenagers supporting their family and for workers who rely on minimum wage “in a place where it’s just not enough.”