Posted by Betsy
May 9, 2013 8:48 a.m.
Idaho workers’ average hourly wages were 84 percent of the national average in 2012, the Idaho Department of Labor reports, down from 85.2 percent of average in 2011. That ranked the state 45th in the nation, down from 44th in 2011. For all occupations, a new report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that Boise workers made 11 percent less than the national average wage; Coeur d’Alene workers, 21 percent less; Idaho Falls, 22 percent less; Lewiston, 17 percent less; and Pocatello, 19 percent less. Pocatello was the state’s only metro area where the percentage increased from the year before. You can read a full report here from the Idaho Department of Labor
 GOP Policies have FAILED!
Idaho's wages have stagnated for three decades. Here's why.
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 Idaho Low Wages Result from Years of Failed GOP Policies
02/28/13 Boise, Idaho— IDP Chairman Larry Kenck made this statement in response to news that Idaho leads the nation in the percentage of workers who earn the minimum wage:
Idaho has suffered from decades of GOP policies that do very little to encourage high-paying businesses to re-locate to Idaho or to stay in Idaho.
Every time you ask businesses to name their top need, they will say a "well-educated and qualified workforce." So, while Idaho leads the nation in minimum wage workers, we are at the absolute bottom of the nation in our investment in education. To make matters worse, just last year our legislators chose to give $35.7 million in cuts to the wealthiest Idahoans even though education budgets still remain far below pre-recession levels. We need responsible leadership in our state and we as citizens must hold our state elected leaders accountable for the terrible priorities that put workers and education—and ultimately, businesses—last. And, remember, the story about our shameful minimum wage problem is just a statistic in the newspaper and to the legislature and governor, but out here in the real world it isn't a statistic at all—it’s real families of hardworking Idahoans who need fair wages and a fair shot at prosperity to give their children the bright futures they deserve.
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Central Committee meeting place
We meet (7pm, 3rd Thursday - see calendar) at the Bonneville County Courthouse, in the Commissioners' Office Room #102, on the ground floor where the motor vehicle departement used to be. Use entrance on North side of building or through the main entrance to the old Courthouse Building.

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