I totally agree with Thad Eckard's Nov. 28 Opinion piece, “Think Before You Spend.” I agree that paying a living wage to employees is only fair. The minimum-wage rate for retail workers in the field I'm in is no more than $7.50 per hour. That is below poverty-level wage, and you are thinking about which bill is more important to pay next and which one can wait. Is this America?
I have had many job opportunities since I moved here nearly three years ago from Charlotte. I am partly to blame for not sticking with the jobs I had been given. But when you have more than 20 years’ cashier experience and you go into an interview and they want to offer you only $7.50 an hour to start — as though you have never done cashiering before — it is not very much motivation to even want to stick with the job. It doesn't even cover two bills you may need to pay.
The mountains are a beautiful area here, but I have decided to move back to Charlotte this month in hopes of better job options, and hopefully finding a job that is worth sticking around for.
— Irene Corey
Black Mountain
Thanks, Irene. Charlotte is probably a better place to find work, but there are a few places around here that offer good jobs. There are also different organizations you can get involved with to help make this area more job-friendly and less business-friendly.