The holiday
season approached quickly, and many began to see their inability to have a very
merry holiday season because of their low income. Steve Coll a writer for The New Yorker, wrote “Higher Calling”
to show how a raise in minimum wage will provide workers with economic
independence. Coll achieves this by using statistics and brand names that the
reader can relate.
Coll
enables the reader to understand the problem of minimum wage by sharing
statistics that are common to people that live off of minimum wage. Coll states
that nearly twenty seven thousand people living in Seattle live in poverty.
This means that many of the people are living off of around $15000 a year, far
below the federal poverty line of $23,550 for a family of four. Living in a tech savvy city like Seattle,
these people have difficulty being able to enjoy the holiday season, let alone
the rest of the year, with a minimum wage budget that does not get them very
far. Coll’s use of statistics enables the reader to understand the severity
that the minimum wage is causing.
In order
for the reader to feel the need for a raise in the minimum wage, Coll shares
situations that people living off of minimum wage experience. Coll states, “This holiday season, activists
have been excoriating WalMart because one of its stores organized a charitable
food drive for its own low-paid employees. McDonald’s was taken to task for
suggesting, on a company Web site, that strapped employees could raise cash for
presents by selling belongings on eBay.” If companies are telling their own
employees that are receiving minimum wage to find other ways to make money, it
is time for the politicians to see the need for a raise in minimum wage. It is
not right for people to have to sell their own goods on top of a full time job
to mak ends meet. This is why Coll connects to the audience by sharing
situations like these to get the reader and politicians to see why a raise in minimum
wage will create economic independence for many.
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