Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro said that it is a “you problem” if a person has to “work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table.”

“Well, the fact is if you had to work more than one job to have a roof over your head or food on the table, you probably shouldn't have taken the job that's not paying you enough. That'd be a you problem,” Shapiro said Wednesday.

He went on to say that it’s “not true” that the “vast majority of people in the United States are working two jobs,” citing recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau that shows “a small but steady number of American workers have more than one job because either they need extra income or because they want to gain more experience or explore different interests.”

Shapiro’s remarks sparked a flood of criticism from a number of people on Twitter.

Shapiro took to Twitter later on Wednesday to further explain his remarks, saying: “The point I am making, of course, is that you cannot dictate that a job pay you what you wish it paid you.” 

“That is obvious, and why it is foolishness for politicians to claim that the economy can be structured to force your desired level of pay from a job you chose to take,” he continued. 

He added in another tweet that “the answer to the problem of taking a job that you feel underpays you is to (a) not take the job, as I suggest here, or (b) not live beyond your means. It is not to restructure the economy in line with your utopian view of what you deserve from others.”

Shapiro said his comments follow "a line from Kamala Harris claiming that no one should have to work two jobs."

During the Democratic presidential debates in June, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) argued that no one should have to work more than one job in order to pay their bills. 

She said during the debates that she was “meeting people working two and three jobs.”

While commenting on job growth in America that President TrumpDonald John TrumpGraham: America must 'accept the pain that comes in standing up to China' Weld 'thrilled' more Republicans are challenging Trump New data challenges Trump's economic narrative MORE has boasted, Harris said: “Well yeah, people in America are working.”

“They're working two and three jobs,” Harris continued. “So when we talk about jobs, let's be really clear: In our America, no one should have to work more than one job to have a roof over their head and food on their table."

According to Bloomberg, the rate of people holding multiple jobs in America has remained steady around the fifth percentile for the better part of a decade, despite record low unemployment numbers last year.

Although hiring gains last year surpassed those in 2017, the report found that wage gains haven't kept up with job gains and have remained moderate, prompting some workers to turn to multiple jobs.

Tags Kamala Harris Donald Trump Steve King