PHS students’ jobs are often written off as a side interest or yet another extracurricular for academic overachievers. But the money that minimum wage workers earn can help them support their families and develop lifelong skills, and they should not be underpaid. Starting as a grocery store cashier several months ago, I met people similar to the stereotypical PHS student — bookish kids looking for something to fill up their time. But as many of them left for college, I noticed more people that had initially escaped my attention: adults, many of them immigrants and parents, from different countries, all hardworking and intelligent, who built their lives working the same jobs as the teenagers I had previously surrounded myself with.

As the college application season begins, many students just think of part-time jobs as another add-on to their resumé. But apart from money, what are students taking away from their time spent working? If they are in customer service, they likely learn valuable interpersonal skills. If they are doing manual labor or something more specialized, they can learn a new technical skill they would otherwise never have had the opportunity to acquire. And having moved from a much more socioeconomically diverse, urban community less than a year ago, I knew many kids who took up jobs cleaning or working in fast food right after graduating to help their parents out with some extra cash. It was never a booster for their application later on: it was something they and their family relied on to buy groceries. One of the problems resulting from a low minimum wage is the country’s labor shortage, a problem unsolved by solutions such as hiring young teenagers or adding benefits to jobs. Yet according to the US Department of Labor in 2021, the federal minimum wage has not increased from $7.25 per hour since 2009. Further, while there are ten million job openings, there are still 8.4 million unemployed Americans, according to the Washington Post in 2021. Where I work, signs displayed above each register apologize for being short-staffed. And we aren’t alone. Increasing the minimum wage would incentivize those who are currently unemployed to find work. A larger labor force could take the pressure off current workers, who are frequently asked to work longer hours and more overtime due to a scarcity of workers. What could these companies do better to attract workers? In many cases, enough money to pay rent. Imagine a single parent raising one child and working full-time. Using MIT’s Living Wage Calculator in 2021, you can determine that this parent would need $38.79 an hour, requiring an annual salary of $80,677 before taxes. With additional costs like food and gas piling up and minimum wage coming nowhere close to supporting workers, it’s not hard to see why employers face challenges when trying to convince people to apply for often thankless and strenuous work. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that in 2020, the median age for a person working in food service was 29.6 years old. For my job, the median age was 24.8 years old. Millions of adults relying on these jobs require more stability than what they are receiving.

But workers should not be discouraged — a growing movement supporting a $15 per hour minimum wage has gained a lot of traction in the last year. Although this isn’t close to a living wage in areas like Princeton, businesses offering this kind of pay across the country have helped many people go back to work. As a result of higher wages, workers can afford rent more easily, take care of their children, and live more comfortably. New Jersey plans to raise its minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2025, and other states have enacted similar legislation. The high unemployment rate caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed underpaid workers to have more negotiating power, leading to better wages and benefits.

Though many students are leaving their summer jobs, they will leave with new experiences worth much more than an extra item for their college application. The contributions that workers make should not be undervalued.