Coloradans voting on minimum wage for first time in a decade
This November, Coloradans will vote on whether to raise the state’s minimum wage by more than just inflation for the first time in a decade.
The last time Coloradans voted on raising the minimum wage was back in 2006 on an amendment known as Initiative 42 which raised the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.85, while also requiring increases every subsequent year for inflation. As a result, Colorado now has a minimum hourly-wage of $8.31, which many Coloradans still feel is inadequate and are working to increase it to $12 by 2020.
If Colorado’s minimum wage is rising over time and is supposedly adjusted for inflation, why is there a large push to increase the minimum wage to $12?
In large part this is because the inflation requirement was added after a period of years in which the minimum wage in Colorado had not been adjusted with inflation. So, in effect, when we finally started adjusting minimum wage for inflation, we were jumping into the race well after the starter pistol had already been fired.
This is why, even though it’s been going up in Colorado, the minimum wage still used to be worth a lot more than it is worth today.
A Colorado worker can only buy about 75 percent of what a Coloradan working for minimum wage in the late 1960s was able to purchase, despite the fact that today’s average worker is better educated. If the minimum wage had kept up with inflation since 1968, today’s minimum wage would be set at $11.12, instead of $8.31 according to CFI’s economist, Chris Stiffler.
Failing to keep up with inflation is not the only fallacy in our current minimum wage policy, however, as inflation-based adjustments do not account for the cost of living. With Colorado’s $8.31 minimum wage, a full-time minimum wage worker would earn about $300 per week, or $17,000 a year.
To put this into perspective, The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that, on average, a worker earning minimum wage would have to work 80 hours a week in order to afford a modest one-bedroom apartment within the state of Colorado. With stagnant wages and continual increases in the cost of living, low-wage workers struggle to make ends meet.
This year’s initiative to increase Colorado’s minimum wage, known as the $12 Minimum Wage Amendment, would increase Colorado minimum wage to $9.30 in 2017 with an additional 90-cent increase every year starting Jan. 1, until it reaches $12 by 2020. In addition, the minimum wage would not be lowered in years when the inflation rate was negative.
How does this increase compare to what’s happening in other states?
Washington will vote this November on raising its minimum wage to $13.50 by 2020. In addition, many other states have already agreed upon increases in their minimum wages. California, New York and the District of Columbia have all enacted laws to increase their minimum wages to $15 per hour within the next six years, with New York being the first to reach $15 by 2018. Oregon’s minimum wage will reach $13.50 per hour by 2022, and Massachusetts’ minimum wage will rise to $11 this coming year.
An estimated 500,000 workers in Colorado would be affected by an increase in the minimum wage, with 86 percent of the people who would benefit over the age of 20.
An increase in the minimum wage does not just help low-income Colorado families. Colorado’s economy as a whole will also experience some positive effects. Higher wages are also linked to lower employee turnover rates and Coloradans will see an increase in their purchasing power, meaning more people will increase their spending, which circulates back through and boosts the economy.
To learn more about the $12 Minimum Wage Amendment, visit http://www.coloradofamiliesforafairwage.org/
