70 percent of Idahoans support minimum-wage increase

A recent survey conducted by Dan Jones and Associates group shows that 70 percent of Idahoans support raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour. To put that into perspective, if a minimum wage worker worked 40 hours a week, a pay raise from $7.25 an hour to $10 an hour would give them an extra $110 a week.

The move sounds good for low-wage workers, but small business owners worry the move would make it difficult for them to stay competitive. They also say it could result in fewer staff members, meaning people might not even have a job at all.

“All of our products would go up in cost,” said Debora Sorenson, the owner of Reflections Salon in Rexburg. “Everything that we do hair with would go up in cost, but I wouldn’t be able to raise all of my prices to even the costs out and still stay competitive.”

A similar worry and concern was repeated by several other store owners on Rexburg’s main street. Sorenson also said the increase would hurt her employees, all of whom make more than minimum wage. “The girls that work for me would actually end up making less money because their cost of living would go up,” said Sorenson.

Currently about 5.1 percent of all hourly workers in Idaho make minimum wage. While the number is still one of the highest in the country, it’s lower than last year’s numbers which showed over 7 percent of Idaho hourly workers made minimum wage. The Idaho Department of Labor attributes the improvement to Idaho’s growing economy.

“Our current unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent,” said Ken Edmunds of the Idaho Department of Labor. “We’re not advocating, we’re not opposing what they [the Legislature] might decide to do for minimum wage. But the market conditions are driving our low wage earners to much higher levels quite rapidly.”