Arizona lawmaker proposes $20 an hour minimum wage

(The Center Square) – One Democratic Arizona legislator is looking to outdo President Joe Biden’s call for a $15 an hour minimum wage.

Sen. Martin Quezada, D-Phoenix, recently introduced a bill that would increase the state’s minimum wage to $20 an hour beginning Jan. 1, 2022, and increase it each year based on the rate of inflation.

Arizona’s minimum wage has increased every year for the past four years and now sits at $12.15 an hour. That is up from $10 an hour in 2017 and increasing to $10.50 an hour in 2018 and $11 an hour in 2019.

Quezada’s campaign website states, “No full-time employee should live in poverty while CEO pay increases,” but it does not go into detail regarding his minimum wage proposal. In a separate bill, he calls for essential workers – as defined by the governor – to be paid $20 an hour plus overtime for anything over 40 hours in a week, starting in 2023.

Chad Heinrich, Arizona state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said the increase would lead to higher costs and fewer jobs.

“Unlike big businesses, small businesses operate on very thin margins,” Heinrich said. “Further, with the COVID-19 pandemic continuing, they simply cannot afford cost increases this drastic when they are struggling to survive.”

Arizona has the seventh-highest minimum wage in the country, trailing California, the District of Columbia, New York, New Jersey, Colorado and Massachusetts. With no other changes, it would drop to ninth by the end of the year after planned increases go into effect in Oregon and Connecticut.

Heinrich said a minimum wage increase is good for those workers who get to keep their jobs, but it would force business owners into making undesirable choices.

“They can increase costs or reduce spending,” Heinrich said. “Most often a small business will reduce costs by cutting employees or not filling vacant positions. By and large, most experienced employees make more than minimum wage.”

Heinrich said increased minimum wage mandates are most harmful to younger, inexperienced workers.

“Employers simply will not take on an employee with no work experience at the high wage rates in this proposed legislation,” Heinrich said. “Therefore, young employees lose opportunities to learn both hard and soft skills at part-time jobs while they are still in school.”

A group of activists gathered at a rally in Phoenix earlier this week in support of Biden’s initiative. The event was coordinated by the group One Fair Wage, which also wants to put an end to a lower minimum wage for tipped workers, such as wait staff and bartenders. The federal minimum wage for tipped workers now stands at $2.13 an hour, but One Fair Wage and others want such workers to be paid the same $15 an hour plus tips.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has said Biden’s proposal for a $15 an hour minimum wage would result in the loss of between 1.3 million and 3.7 million jobs.

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