From CT Viewpoints: Connecticut is poised for a serious debate over the size and role of its future government as it prepares for a new legislative session in February and a new business-led economic commission due to issue its report on March 1. How should the state view the options during this historic debate?
Publication Type: Media
Worker’s Friend Or Business Drag? One Year Of Colorado’s Increased Minimum Wage
On Monday, New Year’s Day, some workers in Colorado will get a pay raise. The minimum wage will increase 90 cents, from $9.30 to $10.20 an hour. This is because Colorado voters passed a law that gradually increases the minimum wage; by the final year of the plan, in 2020, it will grow to $12 an hour.
As was the case prior to the passage of Amendment 70 in November 2016, both proponents and those in opposition to it have made arguments about its impact after the first year. Sonia Riggs, president of the Colorado Restaurant Association, is against the increased wage. She tells Colorado Matters it will cause restaurants to close and create a greater pay disparity between servers and workers in the back of the operation, like dishwashers.
Michelle Webster, manager of research and policy analysis with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, is for the wage increase. It’s an important means of elevating the economic impact of the state’s lowest-paid workers, Webster tells Colorado Matters.
Colorado unemployment is super low, so why aren’t wages going up faster?
Colorado’s economy, on the surface, is humming along with unemployment rates at historic lows and some of the strongest job gains in the country.
But a closer look shows that median hourly wages are stuck; many of the new jobs being added are low-paying; and thousands of working-age adults remain disengaged from the labor force, according to the State of Working Colorado report from the Colorado Center on Law and Policy.
“We have another year of strong job growth in the state and unemployment continues to drop. But the indicator of how the economy is performing for the majority of workers — wages — still isn’t moving,” said Michelle Webster, manager of research and policy analysis with the group, which advocates on behalf of low-wage workers.
Shame on Grinch America for workers’ stagnant wages
As Coloradans shop for loved ones this holiday season, too many of them will be doing so on the cheap, or even resigning themselves to the giving of good wishes instead.
The reason for any stinginess in the season won’t be because these hard workers look to the Grinch for inspiration, but because wages are stuck in a Grinch-like grip that’s squeezing the value from their labor. Despite what appears to be a roaring economy and a bull market, the American system is failing to live up to a basic promise to its workers. The villains are all about us, from the marbled halls of elected office to the paneled walls of corporate boardrooms.
According to a new report by the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, median hourly wages remain stuck, lots of the new jobs coming online pay low wages and thousands of adults remain disengaged from the workforce.