SPOKANE, Wash — At Green’s Fresh Market in Hillyard, providing a bargain is all in a days work for owner Jack Green.
"Yeah," he said while rearranging produce. "I wear all the hats. But, I do have good employees who take up some of the slack.”
He says he pays those employees to match.
"They work hard so pay them what they’re worth," he said.
Starting Monday businesses in Washington will be required to offer most workers $16.28 an hour. Green says it won’t impact him much - he already pays more than that.
But, he knows how other businesses may have to make cuts or raise prices to stay competitive.
"Makes it tough," he said. "People don’t want to work for minimum wage, so it’s kind of a stigma.”
He believes the minimum wage stigma may drive older or more experienced workers to jobs that can afford to pay much more than minimum. Green supports the idea of different wage levels.
"Kids that are in high school don’t need to make $16-$17 an hour," he said. "It gets frustrating because it gets so competitive it's hard to find employees. The Jack in the Box is paying 17 bucks an hour."
And he says the wage increase isn’t a fair deal for everyone. He says it's also driving businesses out of the state, especially to neighboring Idaho, where employers can pay less for labor and other expenses.
"People that are making minimum wage aren’t making that much because everything has to go up to pay for that 50-60 cents an hour raise, but so many people who are making more than minimum wage aren’t getting a raise but they have to pay the new prices," he said.
The state’s Department of Labor and Industry says it calculated this wage increase by looking at the federal Consumer Price Index. That’s what you pay for goods and services.
The calculations came out to a 3.4% increase in Washington's minimum pay for 2024.
But Green wonders if it's not time to level the playing field with a minimum wage increase nationwide.
"Then you’re not competing with other states and then it’s kind of level for everyone," he said.
The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour hasn't budged since 2009.
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