How Raising The Minimum Wage To $15 Changed These Workers' Lives
SEATAC, Wash. -- In late 2013, voters in this airport town outside Seattle narrowly approved a groundbreaking measure setting a minimum wage of $15 per hour for certain workers. When the new law went into effect a few weeks later, Sammi Babakrkhil got a whopping 57 percent raise.
A valet attendant and shuttle driver at a parking company called MasterPark, Babakrkhil saw his base wage jump from $9.55 per hour, before tips, up to $15. Having scraped by in America since immigrating from Afghanistan 11 years ago, he suddenly faced the pleasant predicament as his co-workers: What to do with the windfall?
For the overworked father of three, it wasn't a hard question. Babakrkhil decided to quit his other full-time job driving shuttles at a hotel down the road. Though he'd take home less money overall, the pay hike at MasterPark would allow him to work 40 hours a week instead of a brutal 80 -- and to actually spend time with his wife and three young girls.
"My kids used to not see me," said Babakrkhil, who notes that the new work arrangement has also afforded him time to start exercising. "Now I make a little bit less, but I'm enjoying my life ... I'm happy this way."
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/how-raising-the-minimum-wage-to-dollar15-changed-these-workers-lives/ar-AAbuE4W
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