Jobs in Colorado to See Minimum Wage Decline

Those with jobs in Colorado recently received some bad news.

The Colorado Department of Labor & Employment has announced its plan to decrease the state's minimum wage beginning January 2009. That move - which is being initiated due to Colorado's reduced consumer price index and cost of living - will cause the minimum wage to go from its current rate of $7.28 per hour to $7.24 per hour.

The federal minimum wage, which applies to most workers in the state, is only a penny higher at $7.25 per hour. However, employers have the choice whether or not to decrease an employee's wage.

"This adjustment with inflation shows that Colorado’s minimum-wage amendment works as voters intended," Robin Kniech, program director for FRESC: Good Jobs, Strong Communities in Denver, told the Denver Business Journal. "But in the interests of keeping our economy moving and avoiding hardship to employees and their families, we urge employers not to lower wages."

Although 10 other states have minimum wage levels that are tied to the cost of living, none of the others have reduced the state's minimum wage as of yet. Those states include Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, Vermont and Washington.

In 2006, Colorado residents voted in favor of tying the state minimum wage to the current cost of living. The state will hold a hearing on the minimum wage change during November. However, state officials have said the law does not allow them any other option than to reduce the minimum wage.

The reduction in minimum wage will most likely not help Colorado's economy, which has continued to lose jobs, despite the recently declining unemployment rate.

During August, Colorado saw its unemployment rate decrease from 7.8 percent to 7.3 percent, which was lower than the national unemployment rate at the time of 9.7 percent. Prior to August, the state hadn't seen its unemployment rate decrease since April, when it went from 7.5 percent to 7.4 percent.

The state had a total non-farm employment of 2,247,700 workers during August, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is down from 2,253,000 workers during July and a 4.7 percent decrease from last year.