The Alaska minimum wage will automatically increase from $11.73 to $11.91 on Jan. 1. That is the result of a decade-old ballot initiative that voters passed, tying the minimum wage to the Consumer Price Index for urban consumers in the Anchorage metropolitan area, as calculated for the prior year.
Due to this year’s Ballot Measure 1 passing, the minimum wage will go up again on July 1. It will be increased to $13, and a year later will be increased to $14. The final hike will be in 2027, when it will be $15 an hour and adjusted for inflation after that.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 3% of employed teenagers are paid minimum wage. Overall, there about 10,000 workers who are working at minimum wage in Alaska. But it will likely have the effect of driving up the costs of entry level jobs, which will then be eliminated and replaced by touchscreens and artificial intelligence, where usable.
Another result of the law will be the punch in the gut of small business owners: Businesses with fewer than 15 employees will be required to provide 40 hours of paid sick leave. Companies with more than 15 employees will have to provide 56 hours of paid sick leave.
That means a growing micro-sized mom-and-pop business will have to bake in an additional five days of pay for every employee, which will make it more difficult to compete with large business. Agriculture, fishing, and mining workers are exempt from Alaska’s minimum wage schedule. See who else is exempt from the Alaska minimum wage law at this Department of Labor link.
On a recent trip in AZ I went to a Taco Bell. No one at the counter, just a large menu kiosk. I punched in my order, swiped my card, and waited. A few minutes later a human did appear. They handed me my tray and quickly disappeared. Technology is taking over.
I remember working at the Quick Stop in Indian Hills (right next to the Chevron Station), on Debarr and Beaver in the early ’80’s making $5.00 per hour, $7.50 for overtime and living life. I wasn’t high on the hog, but I was making my own way and paying my student loans. Fun times.
How much was your rent and tuition fees back then
I paid $180 per month for a 2 bedroom apartment at the Martin Arms off 3rd and Unga, and I spent $12,500 at Gary’s flight school at Merrill Field (for working towards my AP license), then Gary declared bankruptcy, went to Texas and opened up another flight school with the money he took from me and many others. The state ruled we, the borrowers, had to pay it back since Gary was protected by bankruptcy laws. But I paid off all my student loans from AVTEC (prolly $10,000), Gary’s, then UAF ($100k), where I earned my M.S. in chemistry in ’04.
That will mean less entry jobs available and higher costs to the consumer. Also may kill many small businesses.
I grew up in Europe, and somehow fast food franchise can paid there worker minimal wages, offer 4 week paid holidays and health insurance, and still offer a burger at the same cost than in the U.S. Small pop and mom businesses are still going strong offering the same conditions. But somehow, this is too hard to tackle for a U.S. entrepreneur.
Ah yes but they don’t get tips do they?
In 1980 made $1.80 hour. 2024 100x that. Learn a trade.
Are you saying that $13 is somehow 100x what you were making, or that you only make $18 an hour at “a trade”?
Sounds like you might have some adjustments to make.
Confused is correct. Very appropriate name.
100X $1.80 is $180.00.
Many small businesses are going to be shut down because they won’t be able to afford to pay the wages you require Akwhitty.
I think you are missing the point.
Start out at minimum wage, learn skills, get experience, make a LOT more.
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You will end up a lot more successful than spending your life petitioning the government to force businesses to pay you more than you are worth to them.
I come to a job with $60k + worth of equipment to perform my tasks.
Businesses and home owners need my services because they don’t have my equipment or knowledge and you can’t rent it.
It’s also hard work, like sweating work . The stuff this generation does not like to do. I’m in my 60s and still chugging.
The government has no role in mandating wages. Just another intrusion into our illusion of a free market.
It should be higher than that based on the COL in Alaska
Wages are not set based on the cost of living.
They are set based on the value you bring to the company.
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Why should a business pay an employee more than they bring to the company, especially a no experience, unskilled worker? A minimum wage employee has to bring in significantly more than $13/hr of value to the business in order for that employee to stay out of the loss column.
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But, why let business economics enter the equation. There are leftists feel good policies to implement under the threat of imprisonment.
Just saying it costs more to survive in Alaska.
And, if that is the case, the workers are the ones to make higher wages happen, not the Government.
When a company realizes their better workers are all leaving to go to better paying jobs, they will either have to up their wages, or lose workers and the ability to keep their business open.
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Arbitrarily set wages because of cost of living increase the cost of living, creating a downward spiral of COL goes up, wages go up, pushing COL up, pushing wages up, pushing COL up…
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Finally, if you are not getting paid enough to survive, get a better paying job. Do not petition the government to blindly raise wages. You, the worker, are the only person responsible for ensuring you make a living wage. No one else.
Minimum wage initiatives on a ballot always pass as voters think it a positive idea and have no idea it has No positives. Zero. And in the land of the free, you are taking that freedom from an employer. Predictable and disappointing outcome.
If your business can’t afford to pay $13 an hour to an employee perhaps you shouldn’t be in business. Add to that we get to pay for your employees health insurance through Medicaid and your “business plan” is a huge drain on society. Maybe the boss is taking too much off the top?
Maybe the boss is taking too much off the top.
But, why is the business in business? Oh… that’s right. To MAKE MONEY. So, explain to us all why a business man should voluntarily pay more for a product then that product is worth? Would you, as a business owner tell your suppliers that you are going to pay them more for their product than they are asking? No, you would negotiate a lower price deal. (Go on, tell me you are that special person who would pay more because “it is the right thing.” or because you “take too much off the top.”)
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And, an employee is in business as well. They are selling a product. That product is their time, experience, and knowledge. They will sell those items to the highest bidder based on the going rate in the area. Why in the world should you think you are worth more than the value you bring to the company?
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If you are a customer facing employee, how many dollars of product must you sell in order to earn the business more than it cost to have you there? Answer that question, and you will see why the business is not raising wages for zero experience/unskilled jobs.
What will happen?
Prices for everything will go up. And the number of minimum wage jobs will go down.
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Lose-lose.
Funny how the leftist on MRAK are absolutely sure that tariffs will increase the cost of goods in the US to an unacceptable level. But, the very same leftists think raising the minimum wage will not.
I’m waiting for your comment on how slavery actually was good for the country!
Keep waiting.
I also notice you have no response to my point above. Please inform all of us why you think a boss should pay an employee more than they bring to the company?
If your company doesn’t present a product/idea etc. that doesn’t allow you to pay an employee enough to keep them off of welfare we don’t need you. Even if your business has been passed on for generations and you are local business “business of the year”. Your contribution to the economy is a loss. Fold it up and move on. It is incumbent on you to produce a product that provides employees a living wage. Alaska pays so much for Medicaid that reducing recipients would be as beneficial as changing the oilfield tax structure. Oh, I realize same business owner who has a 7,000 foot McMansion still doesn’t qualify them as a leader. They are a parasite.
So, you actually have no reason whatsoever for why a boss should pay an employee more than the value they bring to the company? Well, aside from petty jealousy?
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There is only one person responsible for ensuring you make a living wage. That is you. Not your boss, not the government, you.
Don’t like what you are getting paid? Get a better paying job. There is no vast global conspiracy of business owners trying to keep the average person down.
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The “parasite” with the McMansion was not handed that. (With very few exceptions). They worked for it, they earned it. Do the same thing.
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Oh, I know, there are no better paying jobs, you do not have the experience, whatever…. blah, blah, blah. Excuses. Plenty of people get better jobs every day. Plenty of people open successful businesses every day. Lots of people move into the millionaire club every year.
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Be one of them.
Ballot Measure #1, which raised the minimum wage, mandated paid sick leave, and curtails freedom of speech for the employer (in the subject area of religion and politics) is an anti-freedom ballot measure.
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It is also an example of direct “democracy” which can turn into mobocracy, or passion-driven-rule within a dust-cloud of ignorance, where uncaring people slap down an anonymous vote with little thought behind it.
We are supposed to be a “republic” with elected representatives who carefully study and debate complex issues, and also take public testimony to gather yet more views. They then put their name behind their vote in the legislature, which becomes a permanent record that they may have to defend.
Citizen and shadowy group driven ballot measures, should not be used to raise taxes on other people, or take away freedoms from other people.
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In Fairbanks, every 2 years, there is a ballot measure (that I sign a petition for, and vote for) that reinstates the “tax cap”. I think that ballot measure is OK because it does not take freedom away from other people. It just limits the amount of taxes that the government can impose upon us.
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There was also a ballot measure to legalize the use of marijuana. I think that is a legitimate use of a citizen’s ballot measure, because it does not take away freedoms from anyone. I must confess that I left that one blank in the voting booth. I’ve never used marijuana myself, and I think it is a bad idea, so I could not bring myself to vote for it. But I also could not quite bring myself to vote against it, since it is someone else’s business if they want to foolishly smoke it.
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Also, it is OK to have a ballot measure that has been first passed by the legislature (with the legislator’s publicized names and votes), and then passed onto the people (with their anonymous/secret votes) for final approval.
Prop 1 passed via election fraud. The voter roll is dirty. Common Sense Elections has the technology to detect bogus names on the voter rolls in seconds. I emailed Nancy Dahlstrom twice about this; zero response.
Voters are so dumb.
This is what happens when people don’t think about what their being told. Thank you to those that voted “yes” to this. You obviously are not a business owner. However, you are a consumer, as we all are. ALL of us will now be paying more for products and services. Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for fair wages that are appropriate for the position. When you go to the store and complain about the self-check out taking jobs away, think about that “yes” vote you submitted.
Two negatives make a positive. If the government does not obey the law, why should we? We got Prop 1 because it was ILLEGALLY approved, defying the single-subject rule, just as RCV did in 2020. Ergo, why should ANY small business obey an illegal law? This is the point that we have reached. They can’t have it both ways, where the government breaks laws and would dare to punish us for their own criminal defiance. We saw some courageous resistance to Covid, but if we don’t defy THIS, our small businesses, and their employees, will be S.O.L.