For starters, state would lose 217,000 jobs, study says.
What Would a $15 Minimum Wage Do to Arizona?
As the $15 minimum wage gathers momentum around the country, a
new study suggests state and federal government need to hit the brakes.
A $15 minimum wage in Arizona would cost 217,000 jobs by 2021,
according to a recent Heritage Foundation report. As costs to hire go up, companies might have to look at
cutting hours, laying off workers, using more labor-saving technology, leaving the country for a cheaper
location, or even shutting down, the study notes.
Most of
Arizona won’t have to worry about an increase to $15 an hour yet. But a smaller
minimum wage hike—to $12 an hour by 2020—will be on the statewide Nov. 8
ballot. That ballot question, Proposition 206, also asks whether businesses
with fewer than 15
employees should
be required to give three days of paid leave, and companies with 15 or more
should have to give five days.
Some small
business owners have expressed alarm about Proposition 206, pointing out that
Arizona’s current minimum wage, $8.05 an hour and indexed to inflation,
is already higher than the $7.25 federal minimum wage.
And
Flagstaff residents will vote on a proposal to increase its minimum wage to $15 by 2021, another worry for small business
owners.
“I have
heard from Flagstaff’s small business owners those artificial levels would be
job killers,” Flagstaff City Council candidate and small business owner Charlie Odegaard told the Arizona Daily Sun.
