By Sophie Cocke, Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Excerpt:
“Our chronically low wages, when adjusted for the cost of living here, are creating an unsustainable economic situation in Hawaii,” Will Caron, president of Young Progressives Demanding Action, told lawmakers. “Without a dramatic change in economic policy to create a more equitable system that works for everyone, the working folks who make up the backbone of Hawaii’s economy and who are its social fabric will no longer be able to remain in Hawaii. As the working class is driven out of the archipelago or further into poverty, the economic base of the state will continue to shrink.”
In recent years there’s been increasing support from the state’s leading lawmakers and Democratic Party to pay workers a living wage, but the gap between that figure and what lawmakers have been willing to pass remains wide.
A single person with no children in Hawaii needed to earn $17.63 an hour last year to cover their most basic needs, according to estimates from the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.