Meghan Harmening | Opinion Co-Editor

With revenues nearing 470 billion dollars in 2013 alone, Wal-Mart has the highest revenue of all Fortune 500 companies, yet the average Sales Associate makes $8.81 per hour at Wal-Mart which adds up to be just over $15,000 each year. Of course to any college student looking for a part time job, $8.81 doesn’t sound too bad. If any of us even made an extra $8,000 each year, we’d be sitting pretty well as far as college debt goes. But for those employees that are looking to make a living wage, $8.81 is far too low.

This summer, Wal-Mart had plans to open three new stores in the Washington D.C. area; however, the D.C. Council approved legislation stating that all stores that operate in buildings over 75,000 square feet and have annual revenues of more than one billion dollars must have a minimum wage of at least $12.50 per hour. In the days after hearing the news, Wal-Mart decided to halt its plans of opening stores in the Washington D.C. area.

Last Friday, Mayor Vincent Gray vetoed the legislation. With the good news on hand, Wal-Mart gladly announced they would continue on in opening up three new stores.

Was this the right thing to do? Some say the minimum wage wouldn’t have made that big of a difference to the multi-billion dollar company. In fact, one study showed that an increase in the minimum wage to $12.50 per hour for Wal-Mart would only cost customers an average of 46 cents per visit, or around $12.50 each year. On the other hand, some say these few dollars would cost the city much needed jobs.

Of course a minimum wage increase in Washington D.C. alone wouldn’t hurt Wal-Mart much but rather the city itself. Washington D.C. needs more job openings as any large city does. The threat to cancel the opening for three new stores was enough to make Mayor Gray veto the proposed legislation.

Is a minimum wage increase needed for Wal-Mart, though? Many people often complain about how Wal-Mart treats its employees. Would an increase in minimum wage do the trick? Probably not. Nobody is forcing anyone to work at Wal-Mart as a minimum wage employee. Plus, minimum wage jobs are for the minimally skilled workers, however blunt that may be. Of course it’s unfortunate that some people wish they could be paid more as a Wal-Mart employee. It just isn’t in the cards for Wal-Mart at this time.

We live in America. We’re moving into an age where more and more people feel that certain things such as wages should be fair and even across the playing field. Sorry to disappoint, but this isn’t going to happen. There will always be a top one percent and a bottom one percent to match. Minimum wage jobs are often for the high schoolers, the unskilled, or those looking to work their way from the bottom all the way to the top. So we’re back where we started. If you feel that minimum wage needs to be closer to $12.50 than $7.25, I encourage you to look into the effects that would have on our country as a whole. If you think unemployment is bad now, just wait.

We live in America. It’s a land for opportunity, but handouts are not the way to the top. It is taking these opportunities, such as a minimum wage job, and working your ass off. It is taking chances; it is investing your time; and all of these things added together can make for a very rewarding career and life in general. A minimum wage hike won’t get our country to this point.

Graphic by Aaron Burns