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Scraping by on D.C.’s minimum wage

Steve Monroe, a retired editor and current freelance communications professional, reads The Washington Post. Photo by Madeline Jarrard.
Steve Monroe, a retired editor and current freelance communications professional, reads The Washington Post at the Tenleytown Starbucks. Photo by Madeline Jarrard.

Jacob Atkins, 24, has worked several minimum wage jobs and participated in a service program called AmeriCorps to put himself through several colleges including American University in Washington D.C.

A Maine native, Atkins has been living in Washington D.C. for a few years, but he believes the city’s minimum wage is not enough to live on.

“I’ve been working since I was 15 years old, so I’m pretty used to being relatively broke all the time,” Atkins said, “but learning how to still pursue my dreams and gain experiences through different jobs.”

Minimum wage workers like Atkins must work 118 hours a week to be able to afford a typical two bedroom apartment in Washington D.C., according to a recent National Low Income Housing Coalition report. That leaves many cash-strapped and unable to plan for a future.

Steve Monroe, a 66-year-old Washington D.C. native, sat at a high top table at the Tenleytown Starbucks sipping a $2 cup of coffee with a crinkled Washington Post off to the side while he talked about his own experience with minimum wage as a young man.

Monroe, a retired journalist, says his career and current freelance work means he lives a comfortable lifestyle now. He can afford his rent, take vacations and eat at upscale restaurants. But he remembers his own struggle with low-wage work and sympathizes with those now who earn the city’s hourly $10.50 minimum wage.

“I have been involved with people who were just scraping by or were on welfare or working minimum wage,” said Monroe, who noted he has done both community work and mentoring. “I’m kind of a humanitarian by nature.”

Sylvia Davis, 48, who is also a Washington D.C. native, believes wealthy people’s awareness about the income gap and the struggles of low-wage workers in D.C. is relative.

Jacob Atkins (left), 24, a rising senior at American University in Washington D.C., jokes with Dylan Liberman, a 17-year-old high school student from Manhattan.
Jacob Atkins (left), 24, a rising senior at American University in Washington D.C., jokes with Dylan Liberman, a 17-year-old high school student from Manhattan.

Davis feels she’s aware because of her own humble beginning and her experience working her way through college, but she said it ultimately depends on people’s exposure and compassion.

“I think people who are spending lots of money on discretionary items sometimes can overlook folks,” Davis said. “But then there a lot of people that don’t and who are compassionate and realize that folks, they rely upon their tips, they rely upon keeping that job, and paying for their family to have food.”

Atkins, a teaching assistant for a summer communications camp in Washington, said while there are people who work minimum wage jobs for an interim period to put themselves through college, he noted there are others who rely on those jobs as adults. He feels the wage should accommodate all people.

“You need to be being paid a reasonable rate to survive because they are supporting families,” Atkins said.

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District cost of living keeping quality of life down

Two construction workers wearing neon green vests stood about two blocks from the Washington Monument on their job at the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

They sat in a cloud of cigarette smoke, one drinking a Snapple iced tea, as they discussed rising costs in Washington D.C. and how for some minimum wage is not cutting it as the demographics of the city change.

Anthony Lauchie, 26, a Washington D.C. native, has been able to see the city grow. Areas like the uptown part of D.C. have redeveloped and gentrified.

“You only see it predominately in minority area,” Lauchie said. “Like I said, being here my whole life, most of D.C. has always been, not rundown, but for the most part it’s not nice. Now you go to certain places they’ve got million dollar condos. Who’s supposed to live in these condos? Not minorities.”

Lauchie’s comments come more than a year after President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, where he called for Congress to raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10, according to The White House. The minimum wage in Washington D.C. is even higher than that but still low-wage workers are finding it tough to get by due to the city’s high cost of living.

Lauchie, who does not make minimum wage, said the influence of the wealthy on politics means the wage will keep some people down. He believes that every year as inflation affects the value of a dollar, minimum wage should be keeping up but it’s not. People can’t maintain a healthy lifestyle on minimum wage without living paycheck to paycheck, Lauchie said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics in a 2013 report on minimum wage workers, said that nationwide nearly 5 percent of African American workers earn at or below minimum wage. For whites and Hispanics, the number is only slightly lower.

Higher minimum wages would require fast food restaurants that operate on small profit margins to raise their prices in order to be able to pay employees’ wages, according to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative Washington D.C.-based think tank.

That stance is little solace for low-wage workers in the district, where the median rental price for a two bedroom apartment is $2,770, according to a February 2015 report from real estate analyst Zumper.

Maryam Khan, 19, a student at American University, works 40 hours a week for $10.50 an hour at the campus book store. Khan said there is no way she could afford to pay rent and buy groceries on that salary.

Juan Ruis, a landscaper at American University. Photo taken by Madeline Jarrad.
Juan Ruis, a landscaper at American University. Photo by Madeline Jarrard.

Juan Ruis, a landscaper at American University with a 4-month-old daughter, doesn’t make minimum wage but said the cost of living in the district is high. He gets to take a vacation every three years.

“You’ve gotta sacrifice,” Ruis said.

 Madeline Jarrard contributed to this story.

 

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Campus summer programs offer future college insights

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From left to right: Koji Karuhaka, 16, Bina Lee, 16, Taylor Blowers, 16, and Vanessa Ullman, 17, on America University’s campus through a summer program. Photo by Olivia Blackwell

High school students taking summer programs at American University listed their expectations of their future college experiences as taking challenging classes, meeting people and being busy and tired.

In Fall 2014, about 21 million students were expected to attend American colleges and universities, an increase since 2000, according to the National Center of Education Statistics.

For summer leadership and conference participants on American University’s campus this summer, they are receiving valuable insight into taking classes with college professors and living in dorms without their parents around.

Amy-Beth Hoarty, 17, a participant in the National Leadership Conference, said she has experienced being a part of a community with other students she relates to and connects with. Being in class with people who share her interests made it go faster, unlike her school where she doesn’t really connect with others, she said.

Kelsey Lageraaen, 17, a Long Island native enjoys having an experience different than she would at home.

“There is definitely a more diverse group of people because there is people from different states and countries, so you get to see people’s opinions and ideas based on where they are from.”

This encounter, she said, makes her realize this is definitely something she wants to have at her future college.

Amaris Norwood, 19, said she knew what she was expecting before she got to American University because she did a lot of research. When she got here she was not disappointed; the campus was full of diversity and passionate students, she said.

Norwood said she was surprised by how easy sickness spread in close quarters of the dorms.

“Sicknesses get spread easily,” Norwood said. “Sometimes you forget to eat and then you end up getting sick and passing out.”

Lageraaen feels college is a key part of her future.

“You get a lot of new experiences. It’s the first time for a lot of people being on their own and getting to live with themselves and their friends, so they learn to be independent,” she said.