Minimum wage has stayed at $10.10 for 4 years. With high inflation, will lawmakers make any changes?
The latest state data show a single adult would need to make about $17 to $18 an hour at a full-time job to afford to live in Hawaiʻi.
House leaders ignored the needs of Hawaiʻi’s workers
They killed bills to raise the state minimum wage and to help the unemployed.
House leadership bails out businesses but bails on worker relief
Unemployment insurance benefits should be exempt from Hawaiʻi income tax, but a Senate bill calling for that has unfortunately stalled.
Full COVID recovery requires raising the minimum wage
Economic impact payments—checks—will help, but they are not enough to truly set us on a path to an equitable recovery. For that, we need more targeted measures. One key action is long overdue—raising the federal minimum wage.
Essential workers today, with starvation wages tomorrow?
It is one of the shameful ironies of our time that Hawaiʻi continues to fail to address the injustice that many workers deemed essential do not receive a wage that meets their essential needs.