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Don't like Silicon Valley as a whole now? To expensive? To specialized?
How about a Seattle burger flipper at McDonald's?
$13.00 minimum wage in Seattle. $8.50 in Honolulu.
35% difference.
This may apply at McDonalds but there is more to it.
$13.00 minimum salary in Seattle applies to employers with 501 employees or more and for employers that provide ZERO healthcare benefits. It is $12.00 for the vast majority of employers (500 or less employees). Only 29% of all full time employees in Seattle work for a company with greater than 500 employees. That leaves 71% with the lower minimum wage.
The $12/hour rate also applies only if NO healthcare benefits are provided.
I pay $380/mo toward medical benefits per employee and I'm assuming other employers pay about the same. That is $2.35/hour working full time in one month just to cover medical. $8.50+$2.35 = $10.85
So the REAL difference in pay between any employee working full time for a company with <501 employees is $1.15/hour. Or 9.5% difference - not 35%
The "study" is utter hogwash. The headline should read "Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the country". Because the disconnect of low wages has very little to do with businesses not paying enough and almost everything to do with the high cost of living and high cost of doing business here.
High real property tax? Check.
High unemployment tax? Check.
High workers' comp tax? Check.
High state income tax? Check.
High lease rents? Check.
High general excise tax? Check.
High cost of construction to maintain facilities? Check.
High cost of electricity? Check.
High cost of gasoline? Check.
High cost of insurance? Check.
High cost of shipping? Check.
We have been consistently ranked year after year after year as the worst state to do business in.
The Tax Foundation says Hawaii's business tax burden is more than TWICE the national average.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand why pay is low here. Business owners struggle more here to stay afloat THAN IN ANY OTHER STATE.
And people constantly complain that businesses here are greedy and not paying their employees enough. Just more proof that the average person has the mental capacity of a toaster.
I agree the cost of doing business in Hawai'i is more expensive. But you can't argue had employers keeped up with the cost of living on Oahu as areas like San Fran have. Oahu workers would be making a lot more. Especially workers in the tourism industry. Or am I wrong?
I agree the cost of doing business in Hawai'i is more expensive. But you can't argue had employers keeped up with the cost of living on Oahu as areas like San Fran have. Oahu workers would be making a lot more. Especially workers in the tourism industry. Or am I wrong?
Higher visitor counts don't necessarily translate into higher pay for those working directly in the field. It generally translates to lower unemployment figures which has been exactly the case. We are enjoying historically low unemployment rates in Hawaii. Oahu has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the country, if not the lowest. Businesses in the tourism industry may use these "good times" to make long term capital investments in their products and employees. This may translate to new hotels or renovations/upgrades which then creates jobs for other sectors (like retail, real estate and construction).
Pay for MORE people vs more pay for the SAME number of people is the conundrum created by forcing high minimum wages on businesses. Unless businesses can squeeze more work out of an employee (which can be the case through through the adoption of innovation and technology) less people will be employed to generate the same economic product. Higher minimum wages also erode the value of middle, upper middle and top management positions.
For the record, I support a higher minimum wage. $10/hour + medical benefits should be the bare minimum for a starting wage for anyone seeking employment today even if the job requires minimum to no skills or any level of education. Having said that, I think it's absurd that a security guard that sleeps and surfs the web half of his/her shift should be compensated anywhere near $15/hour.
I would have had to take a 40% pay cut to work there.
Is that still funny?
Same job with a similar company (size, revenue, number of employees), similar tenure at a company requiring the same skills... just a different location forces a 40% cut? Don't buy it.
There is always more to it; people love to leave out the specifics.
Same job with a similar company (size, revenue, number of employees), similar tenure at a company requiring the same skills... just a different location forces a 40% cut? Don't buy it.
There is always more to it; people love to leave out the specifics.
Pretty much, yes.
Given its an hourly wage job no matter where you go.
I guess it can't get any lower starting pay, dead last!! So all can look forward to moving up?? Not Really!
It will probably get worse in a few years. JMHO!!
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