Lawmakers lag on minimum wage
For House Bill 1191 to suggest that employers who provide health insurance should be able to pay employees as little as $12.50 per hour, $26,000 for full-time work, in 2024 is just wrong. Minimum-wage workers with health insurance are suffering right now, so why would keeping them at a less-than-living wage work in the future?
The state House’s proposal is far less than the $35,000 per year that a single, childless adult needs to barely afford basic needs today, according to estimates from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism’s Self-Sufficiency study.
The differences between the House and the Senate proposals will need to be reconciled during conference committee. The fate of Hawaiʻi’s workers and their families is in their hands.
