Thursday, March 03, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Researcher clears up minimum wage counts

Nevada has only 8,000 workers who earn the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour, according to a researcher with the Economic Policy Institute.

"There has been confusion over my numbers," said Jeff Chapman with the Washington, D.C.,-based think tank.

AFL-CIO leader Danny Thompson has testified before the Legislature that 51,000 Nevadans earn the $5.15 per hour minimum wage and another 50,000 earn less than $6.15 per hour.

Chapman said his research finds that 51,000 Nevadans earn less than $6.15 per hour and another 50,000 earn between $6.15 per hour and $7.15 per hour. He did not calculate the number of minimum wage earners in his study.

But he said the U.S. Department of Labor calculated just 8,000 Nevadans, out of a work force of 1 million, earn the minimum wage of $5.15 per hour. That is less than 1 percent of the state workforce.

Nationally, the Labor Department found 3 percent of the nation's workers earn minimum wage.

Thompson said Wednesday it is hard to find minimum wage earners in Las Vegas, but they tend to be child care and rest home workers who live in places like Laughlin or Mesquite.

The Assembly voted 33-8 Monday in support of Assembly Bill 87, which would increase the minimum wage by $1 per hour starting in October. The bill still needs approval of the Senate and Gov. Kenny Guinn before the increase takes effect.

In November, 68 percent of Nevada voters approved Question 6, which would amend the state constitution and increase the minimum wage by $1. The question was placed on the ballot through petitions circulated on behalf of the AFL-CIO.

But voters must approve the question again next year before the constitution is changed. By passing AB87, the Legislature would put the higher minimum wage in effect more than a year before the final vote on the ballot question.

Chapman expects some employers who now pay their workers slightly more than $6.15 per hour will give them a wage increase if the minimum wage is raised in Nevada. He calls that the "spillover effect."

"If I am earning $6.18 per hour, my employer might give me an increase just to keep a difference between my pay and the minimum wage," he said. "A number of studies show that."

He said his study used the same source material as the state of Nevada and the U.S. Labor Department, and his findings actually are similar to theirs. In a 2004 wage survey, the state found the bottom 10 percent of wage earners in Nevada make $6.95 per hour or less.

Chapman also said his study included tips in determining people's wages. Under state law, employers still must pay workers at least the minimum wage, regardless if they earn tips.

During a Tuesday interview, Jim Shabi, a state economist, said he doubts all employers report tip income when they prepare data about employee wages.

Nevada and Florida started a trend when voters approved measures to increase minimum wages, officials with the AFL-CIO said Wednesday.

Since then, legislators in 22 states have introduced measures to increase the minimum wage and Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., is talking about amending a federal bankruptcy bill to increase the minimum wage nationally for the first time since 1997.

"Some elected officials may be philosophically opposed, but they look at what their constituents want and they vote accordingly," Thompson said at a news conference Wednesday during the AFL-CIO executive council's meeting at Bally's.

"This issue received more votes (in November) than any person or issue on the ballot," Thompson said.

Studies show that women in the bottom 30 percentile of wages benefit from minimum wage increases even if they make more than the minimum, said Chris Owens, AFL-CIO director of public policy. Men typically earn more, and a smaller percentage benefit from minimum wage increases, she said.

Among those in Nevada who make the minimum are nonunion food service employees, child care workers, nursing home assistants, convenience store clerks and even some auto mechanics, said Gail Tuzzolo, a consultant to the labor group in Nevada.