Business Report: New figures on Hawaiʻi’s minimum wage

There have been many stories about small businesses that worry a higher minimum wage will harm them. For balance, a report from the Hawaiʻi Appleseed Center for Law and Economic Justice. The current minimum wage is $10.10 an hour—or roughly $21,000 per year. Raising it to $17 by 2024 would directly impact 208,000 workers. The assumption is that it will indirectly impact 61,000 people making slightly more than minimum.

Fifty-six percent of local minimum wage earners are women; 48 percent of women workers would be affected. Forty-six percent of Native Hawaiian workers and 64 percent of Pacific Islanders would be affected. Teens make up less than 5 percent of minimum wage earners. Two thirds of minimum wage earners are in retail; and more than 80 percent of food service workers earn the minimum wage (or lower). The report also finds that low-wage workers spend most of their increased income back into the local economy, supporting businesses and boosting economic activity.