We all hear the stories of families who are moving away from Hawaiʻi because they can’t afford to live here. You’d think that with the lowest unemployment rate in the nation, our workers would’ve seen big raises. Yet we have the lowest average wage in the nation, when you adjust for our cost of living.

Something’s out of balance. Hawaiʻi’s workers need a minimum wage that keeps up with our cost of living. A living wage can help stop the flight of good people from their home. Lawmakers can make it happen.

Currently our minimum wage is stuck at $10.10 an hour—or only $21,000 a year for full-time work. We trail 11 other states where the minimum wage is higher than ours—even though we can all agree that the cost of living in Hawaiʻi is effectively the highest in the nation.

Our experience of the last four years of minimum wage increases in Hawaiʻi, as well as the research tell us very clearly that raising the wage will benefit low-wage workers, their families, and the local economy.

As wages rose, Hawaiʻi’s unemployment rate dropped by 52 percent and the number of restaurant server jobs also rose by 22 percent. Study after study shows that higher wages are good for businesses’ bottom line. Higher wages improve employee morale, productivity and loyalty, in turn reducing costly turnover and training.

We are not yet at a minimum wage that allows people to survive. The state’s own research shows that a living wage—one on which a single person can meet basic needs—is $17 an hour.

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