Next month in March, El Paso, Texas plans to raise the minimum wage. For any employee, a raise is good news. But with the rising cost of goods due to inflation and environmental factors, this raise may still not be enough.
The City of El Paso announced this week that the minimum wage will go up $0.50 from the current $11.61 to $12.11 an hour.
Even at $12.11 an hour, this comes out to $484.40 if a person worked 40 hours a week, not including taxes and other deductions. Then for a month, this comes out to slightly below $2,000 at $1,937.60.
So a person who worked minimum wage they will make under $2,000 a month.
KFOX 14 interviewed some residents, and this is what they said.
Rubi Mesa commented:
“I think people should be paid more because everything is increasing in price, the gas, taxes everything and I think a lot of times people only have enough for their essentials.”
Oscar Velasquez added:
“It’s still too little for people since everything is rising, businesses everything.”
El Paso’s minimum wage has not changed since 2009.
WorkForce Solutions Borderplex Communications Director Bianca Cervantes said:
“We would anticipate that job seekers are going to drive a little further to get paid almost double what the minimum wage is here.”
Then in Travis County, they plan to raise minimum wage to $20 an hour on October 1. The current minimum wage is $15 an hour.
For El Paso to keep people employed, the minimum wage may have to go up to keep people in the City.
See the latest news on minimum wage in Las Cruces and El Paso:
Do you think El Paso should increase the minimum wage?
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