Advocates for a living wage will be asking our elected officials to deliver on their promises and pass a living wage bill in the 2021 legislative session. But we can’t do it without support from you.
It’s time to Raise Up Hawaiʻi
Every worker deserves a Living Wage.
The legislative package proposed by leadership in the State House and Senate calls for a $13 an hour minimum wage by 2024—Hawaiʻi workers already need at least $17 an hour to afford basic needs in 2020.
About 50 living wage advocates rallied at the state capitol Wednesday evening to push lawmakers to raise the the hourly wage to $17, from the current minimum of $10.10.
Hawaiʻi's Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism released new self-sufficiency standards that put the minimum survival wage above $17 an hour for 2020.
More than half of the children in the state have a parent earning below $17 per hour.
Opponents can only make disingenuous arguments that rely on irrelevant information.
The consensus among researchers is that the anticipated price increases from a minimum wage increase are not particularly large.
A bill that stalled in the last days of the 2019 session carries over to the assembly that convenes in January, giving state lawmakers an opportunity to secure minimum wage legislation early in the 2020 session.
Research shows that, of the 88,000 minimum wage workers in Hawaiʻi, the majority are female, over 25 years old, and not trainees.
How much harder for those working minimum-wage jobs in Hawaiʻi, who had every right to expect their elected leaders to address their needs?
