When the salary went up, Parra said, she could help with rent more easily and pay the phone and cable bills in the apartment she shares with her mother, who earns $ 18.50 an hour at a heating and air company. -conditioned.
She noted, however, that her salary was not enough for her to live alone. “I would not say that we are poor, but I would not say that we are well,” she said. “But because we both have income, we are able to do OK”
Mayor Jerry Dyer said there were “obviously mixed feelings” about raising the minimum wage. “As the mayor of a city, it is important that we have people in our community who are earning a living wage,” he said.
But Dyer, a Republican, said he also understood the pain that companies may be experiencing. “I heard from companies that if the minimum wage goes up too much, they won’t be able to be competitive,” he said.
“This is the challenge we face,” he said.
A prevailing question is whether $ 15 is sufficient.
In Fresno, it is often not. The MIT Life Salary Calculator estimates that the life salary in Fresno for a family of four, with both adults working, is $ 22.52 an hour. Last year, Fresno’s average rent increased 11% to $ 1,260, according to the National Apartment List Rental Report, one of the biggest increases in the country.
For 40 hours a week, Jessica Ramirez, 26, earns $ 15.65 an hour at the Amazon warehouse in Fresno. She is the main breadwinner for herself, her partner and her five children, but even with food stamps and occasional work jobs, she said, her salary is barely enough for them to survive.