Times Have Changed and So Has Minimum Wage

Can you recall what the minimum wage was when you first went to work? I want to say it was maybe six dollars and change when I was first legally old enough to get a job. The talk of money and how much we are making is a sensitive subject right now. I'll tread lightly on this one.

I bring up minimum wage only because it goes up effective January 1. The increase is 75 cents more an hour than it was in 2019, making the lowest wage you can pay someone in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts $12.75 per hour.

That's just about double what I was making an hour back in 2001 when I could legally work. At the time, a check that went over one hundred dollars meant I worked a lot. It was also the time I could put five bucks in my gas tank and it would give me just about half a tank. It was also a time where you actually could put your hands on your money. Now if I see cash it's because I got some in a holiday card.

I'm thinking this yearly increase in the minimum wage is a good thing. Right now, it will cap at $15 an hour. My opinion is, they need to increase it annually at a certain percentage. The cost to live only goes up.

Do you think our state has it right with how our minimum wage increases are going? Do you think there is a better way we could handle wages?