The Authentic Eccentric

This year’s ballot measures to raise the minimum wage passed in six states: Montana, Ohio, Arizona, Colorado, Missouri and Nevada.

That means that ~1,561,000 million Americans are getting a raise, which is not only good for them, but also good for the businesses that serve working families.

As an added benefit, all of the new laws are indexed to inflation – meaning that the minimum wage in those states will automatically go up over time as inflation does.

Here’s a summary table, from this Economic Policy Institute page:

The amount of these increases ranges from $1.00/hour in Nevada and Montana to $1.70/hour in Colorado and Ohio. As many as 652,000 children now benefit from their parent’s wage increase.

While this is wonderful news for these families, it is important to note that, indexed against inflation, the minimum wage is nowhere close to a living wage – $820 a month for a 40 hour work week is still a challenge to live on, especially in Nevada.

Despite extensive research and hype, there is no correlation between minimum wage increases and job losses. In fact, a study by the Oregon Center for Public Policy on the impacts of the 1997 and 1998 minimum wage in the restaurant industry found employment opportunities increased.

Businesses actually benefit from having a stable workforce. Employees forced to work overtime and/or another job simply to make ends meet end up less productive. Turnover and replacement costs quickly eat away at any “savings” on hourly wages and can lead to quality and service issues.

The minimum wage increases that passed are great, but they fall short of a federal minimum wage act benefiting all American workers. It has been 9 years since Congress passed an increase in the minimum wage – you might want to contact your freshly elected representative and let him or her know you think that is far too long.