Business report: new figures on Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage
There have been many stories about small businesses that worry a higher minimum wage will harm them. For balance, a new report from the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice.
The current minimum wage is $10.10 an hour—or roughly $21,000 per year. Raising it to $17 by 2024 would directly impact 208,000 workers. The assumption is that it will indirectly impact 61,000 people making slightly more than minimum.
According to the report, 56 percent of local minimum wage earners are women and 48 percent of all women would be affected by such a raise. At the same time, 46 percent of Native Hawaiian workers and 64 percent of Pacific Islanders would be affected.
The report reveals that teens make up less than 5 percent of minimum wage earners; two thirds of minimum wage earners are in retail; and more than 80 percent of food service workers earn minimum wage.
The main takeaway from the report: low-wage workers plow every penny back into the economy, so giving them a raise should stimulate economic activity.
