It’s been two and a half years since Arizona voters approved a gradual increase in the state’s minimum wage to $12 an hour, and examination by a centrist think tank shows growing pay is benefiting at least one traditionally low-wage industry.
An analysis from the Grand Canyon Institute shows that, among food service workers, Arizona’s minimum wage increase is boosting salaries without costing people jobs.
GCI Research Director David Wells compared wages paid to food service workers in Arizona to those in neighboring states Utah and Nevada.
“Hourly pay has gone up 19% in Arizona compared to 3% in the other two states, and we found that the overall employment amounts were pretty much the same. There doesn’t seem to be any evidence that people have lost jobs,” he says.
Population and economic growth are similar among the three states, but Utah and Nevada both go by the federal minimum wage.
The analysis shows there is evidence that Arizona food service workers did lose about an hour a week of work time since the wage began rising in 2017.
Groups such as the Arizona Chamber of Commerce and Industry opposed the increase, saying it would harm workers through lost jobs and work time and force companies to increase prices.
