text: Our congress persons and staff should have to try and live on $7.25 an hour, really it would take 3 jobs to make a living at that rate. Even in the lower 48  it's tough to make it on minimum wage, I had 4 jobs in NE, one at 7.25 (cattle sale barn), one at 11.00 and two at 15.00. All were seasonal or part time. The small town's there were falling apart, replaced by more centralized shopping and living centers. Most of the young people went east to Omaha or west to Denver or north to Rapid City. Agriculture continues to be expensively mechanized and fewer people do the work.