Almost everyone’s first job is low-paying, low-skilled work. That is natural, because you gain skill and value as you gain education and experience. Yet, for many people today, burger flipping has become a career.

Walmart workers staged protests in at least 15 cities last Thursday, demanding wage increases. The protests followed demonstrations in at least 50 U.S. cities demanding the government raise the national minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour. Hundreds of employees gathered outside McDonald’s and Wendy’s outlets in cities like Detroit, Chicago and New York, forcing the restaurants to close. Many demonstrators say that it is too difficult to take care of their families and pay bills while only receiving a little bit above minimum wage. Christine Owens summarizes for Reuters:

The fast-food industry lobbyists promote the stereotype that fast-food workers are teenagers earning pocket money. In fact, the majority of fast-food workers now are adults, with a median age of 28. These are jobs that many adults are dependent on to support families. More than one in four fast-food workers are raising children ….

That says a lot about America’s economy.

Ideally, by age 28, a person should be well on his way to an established career. He should be long gone from the entry-level jobs. He should be finished with his formal education. He should have solid work history. And his pay should be rising to reflect this.

Yet, growing numbers of people are still working the same job that they had while they were teenagers.

Will simply doubling the minimum wage fix things for these people?

Investor’s Business Daily explains why doubling the minimum wage would actually hurt many low paid workers:

In short … McDonald’s won’t suffer, Wendy’s won’t suffer—low-wage workers will. There will be far fewer jobs. And consumers will suffer a lower standard of living by having to pay more ….The average fast-food restaurant spends somewhere between 25 percent and 35 percent of its revenues on wages. So doubling the wage expenses of a McDonald’s, for example, would require the price of the average Big Mac to rise 32 percent, from $3.99 to $5.27 ….

In other words, the money to double wages has to come from somewhere. If wages are increased, then companies will cut jobs that were only profitable at lower wages. They will also increase the price of their products if possible. There are also snowball effects. If the consumer is spending more at McDonald’s, then it means less money is being spent elsewhere, which negatively affects other businesses and leads to fewer jobs in other sectors.

Raising the minimum wage is not going to solve the problems of low-paid workers, because the real problem is much deeper.

The economy can be partly to blame for the decrease in quality jobs, but often financial struggles occur because of personal choices. Many people are suffering from financial problems because of poor decisions. It takes planning, initiative and hard work to acquire gainful employment. Starting a family before obtaining a secure job, or single parenting, automatically sets people out on the wrong foot because it limits what jobs are available to them.

Individuals may not be able to control the economy, but there is a way to better the situation you are in and gain true prosperity no matter the state of the job market or economy. Herbert W. Armstrong asked in his booklet The Seven Laws of Success:

Why do all but the very few find themselves, by age 60 or 65, dependents? Why must there be old-age pensions, public welfare aid, charities to support the non-crippled, non-handicapped helpless? Why must children so often provide for aged parents—when it ought to be the other way around?The only way to true success is not a formula being sold like merchandise.You can’t buy it with money. It comes to you free—without money, and without price. There is a price, of course—your own application of these definite laws. It is not guaranteed to be the easy way—but it is guaranteed to be the only way to real success!

Mr. Armstrong’s fourth law of success is drive; it requires passion and incentive to pursue a career with a promising return. Many workers today are not happy with the conditions they are in, but just grudgingly accept them.

In order to work out of any problem it takes drive, perseverance and resourcefulness. These are some of the seven laws of success. To find out the most important law of success and to see how to implement them into your life, request a free copy of The Seven Laws of Success and begin learning how to achieve lasting success.