Newark Residents Recall Their First Jobs

Law-makers and workers are focusing more and more on the minimum wage.   Patch used information provided by the United States Census Bureau to show how many households in Newark are earning $25,000 or less.Fast food workers from across the country are asking for higher wages according to the Christian Science Monitor. 

We asked our Facebook followers about their first jobs and whether those jobs were minimum wage. 

Mo Floyd wrote, “Foster's Freeze on Jarvis. My wonderful boss paid me $2.10 per hr. minimum wage under 18 was $1.75 per hr.”

James Horner scored a good job as a welder.  “Back in 1997, the wage was $4.25. I scored a welding job during the summer, making $8.00 an hour. Boy, I thought I was rich at 17,” he wrote.

Read all the responses on the Newark Patch Facebook page.

In 1955 the Federal minimum wage was $.75 an hour and has increased over the years to today’s rate of $7.25 an hour.  Some states have a minimum wage different from the federal rate.  The minimum wage for hourly workers in California is $8.00 an hour and workers in San Francisco and San Jose enjoy minimum wages over $10.00 an hour.

What was your first job?  Was it  minimum wage job?  Tell us in comments.