It’s time to give working Virginians a raise.

Imagine raising kids in Northern Virginia while working full-time for just $14,000 a year.

On Thursday, I was at National Airport as part of a series of conversations with Virginia workers who just want dignity and a pathway out of poverty. One man I met explained that he only gets two hours of sleep per night on an airport bench between full-time jobs — one of which pays less than minimum wage and relies on tips. A mother told me she just wanted to see her kids while they are awake once a week, and not have them see her ask their church for help to keep them out of poverty. Another man told me that he and his wife each work two full-time jobs and still make less than $50,000 a year combined, making it nearly impossible to raise their children in Northern Virginia.

“How can we sleep at night knowing our system is failing these people?”

These are the faces of our pathetically low minimum — and all too often for these contract workers, sub-minimum — wage. How can we sleep at night knowing our system is failing these people? Right now, a minimum wage worker makes about $14,000 a year. That can’t pay to raise a family anywhere, much less Northern Virginia.

Demanding a living wage is only part of the solution. We also need to create affordable pathways into better paying professions. In my hometown of Charlottesville, more than 200 hospital jobs that pay at least $28,000 a year (approximately $15 an hour) went unfilled — jobs that would be a game-changer for these individuals. These jobs require a training program of less than three months, but workers living on the thinnest of margins cannot afford giving up three months of wages for such a program, much less the car to get to work from a neighborhood with poor bus access.

Part of what is so maddening about this debate is that creating an economy that pays a living wage is not just good for the workers but for all of us. Supporting a move from public assistance into a tax-paying job is a virtuous cycle. The purchasing power of the working and middle class is a far better indicator of economic growth than tax cuts for the richest citizens. And when parents can afford to be home with their kids, there is more time for good parenting. When we make work pay, it pays dividends for all of us.

I have been a strong advocate for both a track to $15 an hour and for debt-free pathways into trades and professions. We will continue to put these fights at the very heart of our campaign; and every day, I will be thinking of the workers I met who are putting in 80-hour double shifts each week, and still cannot make ends meet. This campaign is about fighting for them.

To find out more about where I stand on the issues, visit www.tomforvirginia.com.