Here's How Much Minimum Wage In Boulder Is Increasing in 2019

BOULDER, CO -- Minimum wage workers in Boulder will see their paychecks go up this year, along with those in 19 other states and two dozen cities and counties. That’s according to a new analysis by the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, which tracks minimum wage changes across the country.

The rate increase is a big deal in Boulder, where employees and small businesses alike are facing increasing costs. Longtime downtown coffee shop The Cup surprised customers by closing amid increasing costs at the end of 2018. Local farmers, for whom labor can comprise up to 50 percent of total costs, worry about how they can cope with the increase without raising prices so high they will scare off customers.

At the same time, rents in Boulder continue to rise, with 1-bedroom apartments checking in at a median price of $1,800 a month, according to a recent study by rental website Adobo. In 2017, the City of Boulder raised the minimum wage for all city workers to $15.67 an hour, in an attempt to stay ahead of the estimated "living wage" necessary in the area, currently pegged at near $14 an hour.

Overall nationwide, more than five million low-wage workers will see their paychecks go up even as the federal minimum wage remains stagnant for the 12th consecutive year, the EPI said. Across Colorado, approximately 254,600 minimum wage workers will see their paychecks increase from $10.20 an hour to $11.10 an hour. Wages are set to rise again to $12 an hour at the beginning of 2020.

The pay bumps aren’t large by any stretch of the imagination, ranging from as low as a nickel raise in Alaska to $1 in Maine and Massachusetts. California companies with more than 25 workers must also give minimum wage workers a $1-an-hour increase.

Eight states — Alaska, Florida, Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, Ohio, South Dakota and Vermont — increased minimum wages automatically to keep up with inflation. This is intended to ensure those workers don’t lose buying power from year to year.

In six states — California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island — the increases were set by state lawmakers. Several of those bumps were part of broader plans to increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

The remaining six states — Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Maine, Missouri and Washington — saw their minimum wages climb due to voter ballots.

“In recent years, as federal and state lawmakers in many states have failed to update minimum wages, voters have taken up the charge themselves, passing wage increases at the ballot box,” the authors of the blog post wrote.

The EPI said minimum wage increases are one of the most straightforward ways to boost pay for the lowest-earning workers. A “flurry” of similar increases in recent years have led to “sizable gains” in wages for millions nationwide.

“After decades of policy choices that have suppressed wage growth for the most workers, it is encouraging that policymakers and voters have increasingly embraced this simple and effective policy tool,” the author wrote.

Patch national staffer Dan Hampton contributed to this report.

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