According to a report released by Bloomberg Business in August of last year, New Orleans is currently ranked second in the country for income inequality. In fact, income in New Orleans is so stratified, that the bottom 40 percent of the population earns only 7.5 percent of the state’s total gross income, according to the same report, and according to the 2013 U.S. census, 27 percent of New Orleanians live below the poverty line.

Since the minimum wage was last set in 2007, costs of living have increased, but when the minimum wage is not adjusted to accommodate our ever-changing economy, the buying power of that minimum wage decreases as a natural result.

It is unfair that individuals within our community must struggle to cope with these issues on their own. It is disheartening that not much has been done to rectify it. It is outrageous that whenever the Louisiana House Labor and Industrial Relations committee had the opportunity to pass legislation that would raise the minimum wage and make costs of living more feasible for underpaid residents of New Orleans in April of 2014, they elected not to.

On April 15, a group called “Fight for $15” organized protests and events around the country — including in our own city of New Orleans — in response to an unlivable minimum wage. They believe that it is unjust that millions of workers cannot make ends meet because of unfair legislation and a profit-driven economy that looks at the workers who support it as profitable, lucrative and exploitable, rather than as people deserving of dignity, respect and a livable salary. In response, they demand that the minimum wage be hiked up to $15 per hour because our workers are worth more than stress, anxiety, house poverty and merely $7.25.

Like with all things, just throwing more money at the problem is not going to rectify systemic inequality. But until a better course of action makes itself evident, raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour — which translates to a salary of roughly $30,000 a year — seems to be the best course of action. The point is that these people cannot continue to wait around for idyllic conditions or a strong stable economy — they are struggling with income now and need immediate tools to fix it.

Many other states around the country have begun raising the minimum wages for underpaid employees including California, Montana, Washington, Colorado, Oregon, New York, Vermont, Ohio, New Jersey and Washington D.C. In the city of San Francisco, policymakers have agreed to phase in a $15 minimum wage for its residents by first introducing a $12.25 minimum wage on May 1 and gradually increasing the hourly rate until a flat rate of $15 per hour is reached in 2018.

Perhaps a strategy similar to this could be effectively implemented in New Orleans, so as to assuage critics’ concerns and accommodate the needs of our working class.

Opponents to an increase in the minimum wage readily argue that this raise would have disastrous effects on the economy and would result in less hours for some employees and lay-offs for others. It is important to note that this chain of logic is compelling because it raises concerns for small businesses, but according to a report released by the National Employment Law Project at the University of Texas, 66 percent of low-wage workers are not employed by small businesses, but rather by large corporations. As a result, this argument is problematic because it ignores the questionable ethics of large corporations like McDonald’s and Walmart that rake in gross profits annually while their employees continue to be subjected to unlivable conditions of wage slavery.

When you withhold resources from people, you are directly contributing to their oppression. In this case, it may appear that what is being withheld is only a higher salary, but this low salary secondarily translates to a struggle to ascertain sufficient shelter, food and other resources necessary for life. This form of structural violence benefits the wealthy few and harms the impoverished many. It appears that something — rather, someone — has got to give.

Although we should not only express concern about issues that directly affect us, it would be misleading to ignore the fact that this issue is of significant importance to our student body — particularly to our graduating seniors. As they enter the job market, it is of pertinent importance that they are able to make a living wage at the entry-level jobs they anticipate to fill. This aside, many Loyola students must work during the four years they are in school just to be able to afford the cost of living in New Orleans and their school tuition. With classes to attend, homework to finish and extra curricular activities to commit to, students have minimal time to allot to clocking in hours at work. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance that students are given the opportunity to make a livable wage at their jobs, instead of working long, hard hours just to barely scrape by.