OLYMPIA…Sen. Linda Evans Parlette, R-Wenatchee, has introduced a bill aimed at helping small businesses keep their doors open and retain jobs. Senate Bill 5362 would set Washington’s minimum wage at its current $8.55 an hour and eliminate the requirement that the rate be raised each year. On January 1, Washington’s minimum wage automatically rose from $8.07 to $8.55 an hour – the highest rate in the nation. Small businesses struggling to stay afloat and keep from cutting jobs during these tough economic times requested the bill.  

“We all support paying people good and fair wages, but with our economy in such dire shape we’ve literally reached the point where these wage hikes are hurting the people they were designed to help,” said Parlette. “Many small businesses are hanging by a thread and these automatic wage increases, which must be adhered to whether or not businesses can afford it, are threatening their viability. Employers are being forced to cut back work hours, forego hiring people, or worse yet lay people off or even shut their doors and eliminate every job in the company. This means more people out of work, which hurts those who need these jobs the most.”

Initiative 688, passed by voters in 1998, required that beginning Jan. 1, 2001 and annually thereafter, Washington’s minimum wage rate must be adjusted based on changes in the federal Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers. Because this is an urban index, it is especially hard on employers in small communities that often don’t reach the level of income and ability to pay higher wages that urban businesses do.

In 1999, the year after I-688 passed, the state minimum wage was $5.70 an hour. Today, at $8.55, Washington’s minimum wage is a full $2 more than the $6.55 federal minimum wage (a rate that applies in states that don’t set their own rate). Prior to 1998, the Legislature was in control of Washington’s minimum wage rate.

“It’s important to remember that employers don’t pay just the minimum wage,” Parlette pointed out. “They also have to pay state and federal payroll taxes on top of that amount. Based on the hourly $8.55 rate, that means employers are really paying more than $10 an hour for each minimum-wage employee. That fact, coupled with the rising costs of supplies and the fact that consumers are spending less, means businesses are in danger of closing.”

U.S. Census data shows that less than 1 percent of workers over the age of 25 are earning the minimum wage. These workers tend to be young, single adults, teenagers living at home or individuals providing their households with a second income.

“Companies are cutting jobs and closing their doors every day,” Parlette said. “That’s why it’s important to pass this bill, and pass it early this year. The sooner we do so, the more jobs we can save.”

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