Few attend wage hearing

BY BRIAN O’CONNOR

Frontiersman.com

WASILLA — A Sept. 25 ballot initiative hearing on marijuana earlier in the day drew dozens of public speakers, a celebrity activist, and focused on principals over hard data.

A meeting the same day on a different ballot initiative drew a single speaker, and both sides based their arguments largely on economic data and statistics. Nor are particular statistics or data in dispute, judging by the pro and con arguments presented at the hearing. The arguments essentially focus on which figures are more important.

If approved, Ballot Measure 4 would increase the Alaskan minimum wage from its current $7.75 per hour rate to $8.75 per hour Jan. 1, 2015 and $9.75 per hour Jan. 1, 2016. After that, wages would be adjusted annually based on the rate of inflation, according to state Division of Elections documents.

The proposed ballot measure also contains a provision setting Alaskan minimum wage $1 per hour greater than the federal minimum wage in the event of a federal increase. Federal minimum wage is currently $7.25 per hour.

Supporters of the measure include Christians for Equality, represented by Nora Ortiz Frederick. Measure opponents include the Alaska Chapter of the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB).

The measure was a win-win-win, Frederick said.

“We’re excited about it because it is good for workers, it is good for workers’ families, and it’s good for our state,” she said.

Alaska’s minimum wage ranks it the 20th highest out of the 50 states, while at the same time, Alaska’s cost of living ranks fourth highest of the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to figures presented at the meeting. About 28,000 Alaskans work for minimum wage presently, and an additional 20,000 work within a range likely to be affected by the increase, according to Frederick. More than three quarters of minimum wage (78 percent) earners are older than 20 years, more than half of minimum wage workers are women, and about a quarter of female minimum wage workers have children, according to Frederick.

Childcare costs alone can eat up salary from one job, according to Frederick.

“There’s no investment, there’s just getting by,” she said.

The costs and multiple job requirements aren’t helpful to families whose wage earners must work a total of 61 hours a week to stay above the federal poverty line, Frederick said. They also require public assistance to make ends meet, effectively subsidizing low wages with federal and state public assistance dollars, Frederick said.

“Raising the minimum wage will give parents 12 hours per week to spend with their children,” she said. “Hardworking Alaskans should be able to provide for themselves and their families with dignity.”

Supporters like Frederick also say concerns about job destruction under the minimum wage are unfounded, that unemployment didn’t change after Alaska last raised the minimum wage in.

Not true, according to Denny DeWitt, state director for the NFIB. Should Proposition 3 pass, youth unemployment will increase, and businesses will be unable to hire additional employees. Both effects could harm the economy. They point to unemployment figures in states with higher minimum wages, like Washington ($9.32 per hour) and Oregon ($9.10 per hour) where unemployment rates for those age 16 to 19 are almost twice Alaska’s rate. Teens robbed of entry-level positions also perform more poorly than their employed peers as their careers progress, DeWitt said.

“The last thing Alaska should do is try to emulate the high youth unemployment rates of Oregon and Washington State,” he said.

In addition, employers will be less able to hire more people, DeWitt said. The wage increase amounts to a tax levied on an employer for each employee, according to DeWitt.

“The increase means there is less funding available for small businesses to hire people,” he said. “People who are employed make more, so they’re happy, but those entry-level jobs go away. Folks without jobs are very unhappy.”

Because only a single member of the public signed up to address the issue, only the experts representing yes-vote and no-vote campaigns were allowed to speak. Public comment requires that at least one yes-vote supporter and one no-vote supporter sign up, according to Lt. Gov. Mead Treadwell, who presides over ballot initiative hearings.

The lone member of the public to sign up was Wasilla City Councilwoman Gretchen O’Barr.

Contact Brian O’Connor at 352-2269 or brian.oconnor@frontiersman.com