Starting Jan. 1, Washington's minimum wage goes to $8.55 per hour, the highest in the nation and exactly $2 an hour higher than Idaho. When Washington’s law took effect in 1999, our state minimum wage rose to $5.70. Since that time, our state’s base wage consistently has been the highest in the nation, and it is set to go even higher in January when it jumps from $8.07 to $8.55 per hour.
Washington’sminimum wage applies to workers in both agricultural and non-agricultural jobs. The increase will apply to all workers 16 years and older and is tied to the urban consumer price index, although 14 and 15 year-olds may be paid 85 percent of the minimum wage, or $6.86 an hour.
One problem is the state Department of Labor & Industries recalculates the minimum wage each September according to changes in the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. That has led AWB to call for a legislative review to look and the impacts of the law and make changes.
Fast food, agriculture and retail businesses employ the majority of the state’s minimum wage earners, said Elaine Fischer, an L&I spokeswoman, in a The Columbian interview. Fischer said about 2.5 percent of Washington’s full-time jobs pay the minimum wage, a figure arrived at by adding up all the part-time hours worked statewide and converting the figure to its full-time equivalent. The total equals about 56,947 jobs that pay minimum wage in Washington; however,the minimum wage increase will affect a much larger group of part-time workers
Nationally, Barack Obama wants to increase the federal minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2011 and follow Washington’s lead by linking future yearly hikes to an inflation index. He believes further increases are necessary so that full-time workers can earn a living wage that allows them to raise their families and pay for basic needs.
However, according to Census data, less than one percent of workers over 25 are earning the minimum wage. And rather than family heads or full-time workers, they tend to be young single adults, teenagers living at home or spouses providing a second income. For example, in 1962 when I was a high school sophomore saving for college, I earned a buck an hour busing tables in a restaurant. That minimum wage job was my entry into the job market.
So, elected officials must decide if the minimum wage is meant to be a living wage, considering those who depend upon it. Because if it is, then it’s a whole new ballgame.
While everyone wants a higher wage, we need to distinguish between a "living wage job" and an entry level or supplemental job which pays minimum wage. We are rapidly getting to point where we are pricing minimum wage jobs out of the market. In other words, eliminating jobs. Simply, having laws which discourage supplemental or entry level jobs doesn't make sense and hopefully, Congress and the state legislature will recognize that in 2009.
Don C. Brunell, President (DonB@awb.org)