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View Full Version : Hawai'i Wages just "average"


Miulang
January 12th, 2007, 03:52 PM
According to a report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=26701), Hawai'i salaries average $704/week, about 10% less than the national average of $784.

...the most common job category in Maui County – retail sales – was paying about $430 a week in mid-2005. Those are the most recent numbers available from the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is part of the U.S. Department of Labor, surveyed the 325 most populous counties, about a tenth of all counties in the nation.

The average weekly wage in Honolulu was $726 at midyear. That ranked Honolulu 172nd – right in the middle – among large counties. The state average wage also ranked right in the middle – 26th.

It is safe to say that if Maui County’s numbers were measured precisely, they would come in under Honolulu’s.

Kevin Kimizuka, manager of the Maui office of the Workforce Development branch of the state labor department, says Oahu always has higher average pay scales because of the large number of government jobs.

The counties where pay is highest share one or more of three characteristics. They are state capitals, the home of large universities or they have a lot of union workers.




Here is a related story in the Advertiser. (http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070112/BUSINESS18/701120352)

Miulang

craigwatanabe
January 12th, 2007, 04:35 PM
It's not only the Government jobs, it's also the competitive nature of a larger pool of available jobs in a larger population base.

I would go out on a limb and say that with a larger employment base you get a larger tax base. That tax base funds local infrastructure which allows businesses to operate at a lower tax rate due to the shear volume of taxes collected for local services.

When a business is taxed less, more of it's available income can be used to entice better workers thru higher wages.

So how does that affect this minimum wage increase? I believe with higher wages put out on the bargaining floor, the less experienced or educated will be edged out, and isn't that who that wage increase was meant to help?

We'll see how the economics of this wage increase will play out.