Rep. Roy Takumi: Workers deserve a (barely) living wage
In the past year, 25 states and the District of Columbia increased their minimum wage. Unfortunately, Hawaiʻi was not one of them.
Our minimum wage of $10.10 per hour (or $21,000 a year) is the lowest in the nation (when adjusted for cost of living). This should be unacceptable to all of us.
The last minimum wage bill passed the Hawaiʻi Legislature in 2014 and increased wages from $7.50 to $10.10 from 2015 to 2018. Since then many minimum wage bills were introduced but went nowhere.
Hopefully, this year will be different, but don’t hold your breath. As expected, the business community opposes any effort to increase workers’ wages saying that now is not the right time.
This is nothing new. When the economy is going well, the business community testifies that an increase isn’t necessary or needed since businesses pay more to attract workers.
When the economy is not going well, the business community testifies that any increase will lead to layoffs and closures. In other words, there is never a right time. Actually, now more than ever, we should raise the minimum wage.
