For most college students, getting a job is a vital part of their university experience. The students at Olivet Nazarene University are no different. On-campus employment is a vital part of campus life, but the past year’s pandemic along with the state-wide minimum wage increase may be causing some issues when it comes to student employment.
23 states have enacted minimum wage increases since 2012 through legislation
Alan Greenblatt, SENIOR STAFF WRITER, GOVERNING MAGAZINE
In his 2019 article from Governing Magazine, Alan Greenblatt discusses a nationwide movement in which individual states are raising their minimum wage. Since 2012, 23 states have enacted to raise the minimum wage in their state, Illinois is one of them. Illinois has opted to gradually raise the minimum wage. Last year it was $10 an hour, but as of this past January, the state minimum wage is now $11 an hour.
At the start of each subsequent year, the rate will continue to rise one dollar until it reaches the new minimum wage rate of $15 per hour. KWQC states in its December 15, 2020 article, “New minimum wage rates to take effect in Illinois New Year’s Day,” that this should be able to culminate in the year 2025.
This issue was broached with the Director of Student Employment, Keri Langan. She discussed that this year, more cuts were made in the department because of changes with the pandemic rather than the minimum wage increase.
Because of the pandemic, she said that there were many changes in what activities certain departments can do, which meant there were many areas in which fewer student workers were needed than usual.
In comparing the number of student employees on campus, there were 191 less workers this year than the last. Langan said that it is difficult to say whether this trend will continue as the minimum wage goes up and with all the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“At this point,” she said, “the increase in minimum wage has not affected us too badly, but it’s hard to say at this point what things will look like in January when it increases again.”
This is Langan’s first year in the position of Director of Student Employment, so she was not able to comment on how the number of student workers has changed from previous years when she was not in position, but she does think that there is a possibility that the number of jobs available to students on campus could be limited in future years.
In the meantime, Langan encourages students to consistently check Handshake in order to see the most recent job openings on campus. At Olivet, students are able to work in a variety of departments, with some of the most popular being:
- Admissions
- Benner Library
- The Center for Academic Excellence
- IT
There are many unknowns in the department of student employment as to how budget cuts will continue to affect the amount of jobs on campus, but this isn’t the only department in Miller Business that has questions about this. Click here in order to read more about how budget cuts at Olivet are affecting the financial aid department in their distribution of scholarships and grants
Jillian Halsey is a receptionist and TA for the communication department. She is responsible for camera and equipment check out as well as helping to manage other tasks in the department. 
Jill English works in Benner Library as an Informatics Student Assistant. English, along with others, is available to help students on the first floor of the library.
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