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Minimum wage left behind
A recent news article reports that CEO pay went up on average 8% in 2018. Some CEOs got as much as a 200% pay raise. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Idaho - where the 99% live - minimum wage remains $7.25 an hour, with no federal effort to raise it since 2009. If minimum wage had grown at the same rate as these CEOs’ pay, it would be greater than $21 per hour. If minimum wage had kept pace with worker productivity, it would also be greater than $21.
Meanwhile the average worker at the same companies got a median pay raise of only 3%.
Ever wonder what CEOs are doing for that high salary plus the great tax cuts their companies got from the GOP/Trump just a couple years ago? Most are not investing in research and development to create new products or improve the old. Most are not raising salaries and benefits for their employees. Most are doing stock buybacks which make their companies look better on the stock market and give them their pay raises.
Hooray for Idaho efforts to raise the minimum wage to $12, halfway to parity. So let’s get this initiative on the 2020 ballot!
Dallas Chase
Boise