Iron Range lawmaker spends week living on min. wage
Minnesota state Rep. Jason Metsa, DFL-Virginia, is spending five days living on the budget of someone earning $7.25 an hour, the federal minimum wage, as part of the Working America Minimum Wage Challenge.
Most minimum wage workers in Minnesota qualify for the federal minimum wage. The state Legislature is considering a bill to raise Minnesota's minimum wage from $6.15 to $9.95, although Gov. Mark Dayton said he'd like to see that number fall between $9 and $9.50.
MinnPost reports the single 32-year-old legislator will be tweeting about his experience @JasonMetsa.
On Monday, Day 1, Metsa reported he spent $2 on a coffee and $5 on a dinner buffet.
Metsa says he'll go grocery shopping Tuesday. His food budget is about $5 a day.
MinnPost lists what Metsa's other monthly costs would be under his revised budget:
- Housing $359
- Transportation $278
- Taxes $178
- Household and utilities $116
- Healthcare $70
KSTP reporter Joe Mazan goes to the grocery store with $35 to spend for a week's groceries. See what ended up in his shopping cart.
