Colorado Minimum Wage Will Drop By 4 Cents With Cost Of Living

As the consumer pricing index continues to fall, the State of Colorado will become the first state since 1938 to lower it's minimum wage.

From the AP:

The state Department of Labor and Employment ordered the wage down from $7.28 to $7.24. That's lower than the federal minimum wage of $7.25, so most minimum wage workers will lose 3 cents an hour.

Colorado is one of 10 states where the minimum wage is tied to inflation. The indexing is thought to protect low-wage workers from having flat wages as the cost of living goes up.

But because Colorado's provision allows wage declines, the minimum wage will drop because of a falling consumer price index. It will be the first decrease in any state since the federal minimum wage law was passed in 1938.

The Denver Post reports that the drop is a result of the first fall in consumer price index in decades:

The minimum wage rate is recalibrated each year based on the Denver-Boulder-Greeley Consumer Price Index, which fell 0.6 percent between the first half of 2008 and the first half of 2009. Last year, that index rose 3.9 percent, but it is now on track to record its first annual decline since its start in 1965.

Comments

[Mark701]

GOD FORBID the people of Colorado be allowed to get ahead by 32 cents a day.

[LateForTheSky]

Minimum wage prevents employers from hiring based on who will work for the lowest amount of money. Poor people should not have to compete for jobs based on how little they are willing to make. If employers can't afford to pay minimum wage they should rethink their business strategies. What if they were required to pay health coverage?

[rcpmac]

In Hawaii they are.

[Harvee Wallbanger]

I would like to see any of these people that are in favor of eliminating the minimum wage here live on the minimum wage for just one year. I'll bet they change their mind before the first month is up.

[Flavor]

I don't get this, you mean you could'nt go into the wages of some of them in higher authority like the governor and all his/her staff if your gonna do this start at the top. I cannot see myself doing this to people who are not making a living wage without first starting from home.

[hypnotoad72]

Inquiry: How much is labor valued?

[choobie]

As much or as little as it takes to maintain full employment and not a penny more or less.

[janeycat]

I did not think that states set the minimum wage..... i thought it is set by congress and applies to all of the US

[alexdog]

If you read the referenced article you will see that most workers will drop from $7.28 to the federal minimum wage of $7.25, hence the 3 cent drop mentioned. However for tipped workers in Colorado, the minimum will go from $4.26 per hour to $4.22 per hour, an amount above the federal minimum for tipped income of $2.13 an hour.

[ThirdSection]

Actually, many states have their own minimum wage laws. If a state's minimum wage falls below the federal minimum wage (as will be the case here in Colorado come January), the federal minimum wage prevails.

[choobie]

Yep, it's too bad we don't have tests to qualify voters. :-)

[AndyWright68]

Abolish minimum wage so people, especially kids, can get jobs.

[satanlite]

Can't say as I agree with that.

[AndyWright68]

Why? You don't like people having jobs instead of starving? You want government controlling what you know your employees are worth? So I can work for free or minimum wage but nothing in between. What sense does that make?

If I need someone to sweep my floor for $5 an hour and someone wants to sweep my floor for $5 an hour than what sense does it make to have the government step in and keep us from making a deal we both want? Now my floors are dirty and the guy that wanted to sweep them is under a bridge because I can't afford to pay him more than that job is worth.

Eliminate the minimum wage!

[Harvee Wallbanger]

Yeah, let's get all those 8 year old bums back out in the fields.

[AndyWright68]

Don't be a.s.i.n.i.n.e and defend a failed program.that hurts millions of people. Eliminating the minimum wage will allow teens, college kids, elderly and those who's skills reflect less than the minimum wage get jobs. Every time they raise the minimum wage people loose jobs. It is a big hoax. If a minimum wage worked then make it $30 an hour. That's right it doesn't work. It only causes damage.

There are child labor laws. Minimum wage had nothing to do with children working in mines and fields . Why do the completely ignorant post their comments? Go do a little basic research.

[hypnotoad72]

Care to add any detail? The whole of the situation, aka "the forest", is a bit more complex than the one tree... one tree branch... you're referring to.

I won't disagree with you... but I see no reason to blindly agree with you either.

[AndyWright68]

It is not complex at all. Government interference with the market does nothing but damage. If someone wants to work and someone wants to hire them then let it be. If minimum wage had a positive effect then raise it to $10 or better $20. The fact that raising it that high is not feasible means raising it at all is not acceptable. Just because raising it to $20 would be devastating to jobs and business and raising it a little bit is only somewhat damaging does not make it right. Let the market determine wages. That is the only fair thing to do. At least people would have the choice to take the job. Right now they are not even offered the job due to the minimum wage laws.

[edgarcaycedoc]

Gee, life is tough on the rich. Just think. It may be possible to replace these freeloaders entirely, so that we don't have to pay any wages. Ain't "Capitalism" grand?

[RWB76]

Life is harder on the unemployed who have a more difficult time finding employment because of the minimum wage.

[satanlite]

Life is harder on the unemployed.

Understatement of the evening.

[moonflowerjewelry]

"they" tell "us" that a living wage is against "our" best interest. "they" tell "us" that if we force healthcare reform, "we" will pay dearly for their increase in cost. (i know my use of quotation marks is all wonky, but i'll bet you get my point)

we are on the precipice of a crumbling nation when the rest of the world is moving forward without us...

[TruthJusticeForAll]

The train has left the station.

[janeycat]

moon ~~ i use those quotation marks too... i guess it's my way of making a point too ... oh i wear out the periods too ....... LOL

[satanlite]

YOU did those ponzi schemes??? "Drinki" has such insight.

[moonflowerjewelry]

the wave of the future...

[Palemoon]

Geez, I go out of my way to not post a link to YouTube because that is always guaranteed moderation, and now my post gets moderated anyways without the link.

What's up with that? My post was meant to address this topic while also providing additional information for people to consider.

[Palemoon]

Reminds me of a song I'll get to in a minute. I think it's pretty clear that the people who control our economy do not want people to get ahead in life. They seem to perpetuate the belief that in order for the few to be rich, the masses must be made to be poor. Why can't everyone be rich? That's how basic economics work and everyone could, ya know. ;o)

So anyways, If nobody has ever heard of her, I suggest they give OTEP a listen on YouTube preferably. Her song "Smash The Control Machine" song addresses this very topic and more. She is like the social conscious of America right now, conveying what we all want to say via her music.

I find it telling her lyrics like "happy little slaves on minimum wage" and "work, buy, consume, die", among others. I won't post the link since that seems to be frown upon, instead I can trust that everyone can find it themselves. ;o)

[D-V-H]

The modus operandae is "keep em poor, worrying more about food and shelter", instead of the_evils_in the world.

[satanlite]

And keep them hating their neighbors. Essential.

If your neighbor watches Fox News, watch your neighbor.

[chensamabindicka]

Minimum wage is highly efficient. You don't have to provide slave quarters anymore, or tolerate those squalid shacks messing up the plantation.

[RWB76]

Not really, it prevents a class of people from receiving the market level wage for their skills, keeping them unemployed, then they still receive welfare, public housing and food stamps, and in no way am I supporting slavery, I am simply highlighting the error in your logic

[D-V-H]

You are coming from the point of view that nothing is too low for someone's labor. The minimum wage was designed to mandate a minimum level of subsistence so that folks shouldn't have to receive charity.

Companies would cry that 50 cents is too much, just to keep raising profits. The well-being of their workers or the health of the consumer economy be_damned.

[satanlite]

The error in your logic is the damage to society you overlook. A 40-60 hour workweek at $.10 an hour - some would still do the work. This is not a society you want to live in, now is it? None of them would be able to afford anything unless they TOOK IT AWAY from someone else.

Nice society right? Nice and safe to live in? Their are countries south of the US where people do anything for a dime an hour. Why don't you move there if that is so great?

Error in logic indeed.

[AtomicSplash]

I suppose they will raise their top tax rate too right?

[D-V-H]

They'll get right on that.

[ladyearth]

This from the State of Colorado that also brings us their state senator Dave Schultheis:

"Sen. Dave Schultheis, of Colorado Springs, on Wednesday opposed a bill requiring pregnant women to be tested for HIV so that if they are infected their babies can be treated to prevent the virus's transfer.

'This stems from sexual promiscuity for the most part, and I just can't go there,' he said."