Find out how your state compares. 

Answer: Answers will vary (click here)

Questions: 

• What is the starting wage for teen part-time jobs in your community?
• The percentage of workers earning less than $15/hour ranges from 14.2% (Washington) to 45.3% (Mississippi). What do you think are the factors that impact this statistic?
• $15 an hour equates to about $30,000 per year for a full-time (40 hours per week) job. How much do you think you need to earn to live comfortably in your area? 

Click here for the ready-to-go slides for this Question of the Day that you can use in your classroom.

Behind the numbers (Oxfam):

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour for 13 years. That‘s $290 a week or $15,000 a year. And millions of workers–domestic caregivers, farmworkers, student workers, tipped wage workers, workers with disabilities–are not even entitled to $7.25 per hour.

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Have your students create a salary-based budget with this NGPF activity. 

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Check out all of NGPF's events and resources for Financial Literacy month. 

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.