WASHINGTON STATE

Washington State House Democrats

HOUSE DEMOCRATS

The issue isn’t jobs, it’s wages

The 2008 recession, technically speaking, ended in summer of 2009. The national unemployment rate is down to 5.8 percent. October was the ninth straight month with 200,000 jobs or more being created — the longest such streak since ’93-’95… one that lasted 19 months. Just last week, the Dow and the S&P 500 both hit all-time highs.

With all the good economic news, why is that exit polling from the 2014 mid-term election showed that 79 percent of respondents were either very worried or somewhat worried about economic conditions? 70 percent of respondents said the national economic conditions were not so good/poor. What accounts for the apparent disconnect between what the economic indicators are telling us, and what the electorate is saying?

Wages.

The following chart shows how the slow cascade of the unemployment rate has been met by wages that have not ticked up in any impactful way.

However, the economy is expanding. Someone is receiving the benefit of all the productivity of the American workforce. One post-recession economic analysis shows the wealthiest ten percent of Americans capturing over 100 percent of income growth during the recovery. The following chart illustrates this truth in vivid detail.

So while the recovery has been solid for a few, it hasn’t been good for most.

Perhaps it’s time for a raise for the American worker.

With five states (four of them leaning GOP) and two municipalities passing minimum wage increases (including a $15 per hour wage in San Francisco) has the time has come for Washington to raise the minimum wage as well?

In the 2014 session, Rep. Jessyn Farrell championed a bill aimed at giving Washington’s lowest earners a raise to $12 per hour. While it never got a vote in either chamber then, the issue will be discussed again in 2015.