How a living wage would help lots of Hawaiʻi workers
A living wage in Hawaiʻi is $17 an hour. A living wage means earning enough to pay for one’s housing, food and utility expenses—just the basics—from working 40 hours a week.
The group earning above $10.10 per hour and below $17 includes more than 250,000 Hawaiʻi residents. More than half of Hawaiʻi’s keiki have a parent earning below $17 per hour.
Raising the minimum wage to a living wage would directly give raises to more than 40 percent of all the people of color in Hawaiʻi, including more than 45 percent of all Native Hawaiians.
The focus on just the “at or below minimum wage” workers is an attempt to minimize the perceived benefit that raising the minimum wage to a living wage would have.
This limited perspective makes it clear that corporate interests are scared of Hawaiʻi adopting a truly Democratic principle and are willing to blur the truth to get their way. Blurring this truth is also an admission that if the vast benefits were made clear and placed front and center, raising the minimum wage would be a no-brainer.
