A System That Needs to Be Addressed

That was certainly an eye-opening story in the Boston Globe last week about raising the minimum wage to $15 and the effect it will have on Mass. residents and small businesses. The most startling quote to us was from a single parent who said she would be better off making $18 an hour than $20 an hour because the additional wages would put in her in a different category where her benefits from the state would decrease.

That system would seem to take away the incentive for a person to excel at his/her job and receive a wage increase. The story stated that our state’s benefits system has been in place for decades. We hope that Governor Charlie Baker — who has done an excellent job since taking office in 2015 and is putting his own imprint on state government — will take a comprehensive look at this situation and come up with a solution to this outdated system.