Our Keiki Also Need A $17 Minimum Wage

It’s no surprise why so many high school seniors elect to leave Hawaii after school.

By Dyson Chee / February 25, 2020

The Hawaii State Legislature is currently considering raising the minimum wage to $13 by 2024. When we talk about affordability, there are two sides to the equation: how much things cost, and how much people have to spend. Yet we sometimes forget that one of the variables to this equation is time.

As a senior in high school, I am at a crossroads in my life — to stay or to not stay in Hawaii. I have chosen to stay because I love this community that I spent my entire life with, but most of my friends have elected to leave.

They do not believe that there is any opportunity for them here, so they elect to go to mainland colleges and get jobs on the mainland.

The sad thing is that my friends are right — how can there be any opportunity for them in a place where they would probably only get paid $13 in four years?

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