Rhode Island's minimum-wage workers will get a raise today.
The state minimum wage will rise by 35 cents to $7.10 per hour today and will increase to $7.40 at the end of the year. Despite concerns about the possible economic consequences of the raise, Gov. Don Carcieri '65, who previously threatened to veto the hike, allowed the bill to become law without his signature.
"The governor was concerned that raising the minimum wage twice in less than a year would significantly undermine Rhode Island's effort to create more jobs," said Jeff Neal, a spokesman for Carcieri.
But District 14 State Sen. Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence, who sponsored the bill in the Senate, said the minimum wage hike is necessary.
"The minimum wage, regardless of the number, gives a minimum value to a job," DaPonte said. He said the new increases will keep that value in line with the increases in costs of living in Rhode Island. "We're just keeping pace," he said.
Carcieri, who vetoed a mini-mum wage increase last year, tried to compromise with the General Assembly in January of this year, Neal said, seeking a one-step increase in the minimum wage to $7.10 instead of the two-step increase. Neal said Carcieri recognized that prices in Rhode Island have increased and was willing to discuss a single 35 cent increase with the General Assembly.
But in the end, Carcieri allowed the two-step increase to become law without his signature, echoing a previous minimum wage hike in 2003, when he allowed the wage to rise to $6.75 an hour without signing the bill.
"Governor Carcieri recognized that the General Assembly was determined to pass the two-step increase regardless of its effect," Neal said. "As a result, he decided to move onto other issues."
But DaPonte said Carcieri's decision was "entirely political." He said Carceri decided not to act after seeing opinion polls that vetoing the wage hike would be unpopular.
Neal said Carcieri is still concerned that the two-step increase in minimum wage will "create a drag on jobs by sending the wrong message to employers."
In a recent study by the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research at Suffolk University, Rhode Island ranked 37th out of the 50 states in terms of economic competitiveness - its ability to sustain high standards of living for its residents. When minimum wage in a state increases, its overall level of competitiveness went down in the study.
"The minimum wage is already bad in Rhode Island," said David Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute. "It would be even worse to increase it."
Tuerck said if Rhode Island wants to improve its competitiveness, it should resist further increases in the minimum wage. He said raises inevitably lead to job losses and discourage firms from operating in the state due to the high minimum wage.
But DaPonte said Rhode Island's lack of competitiveness is due to high energy costs and a "lousy" tax structure.
Anna Dagliere, who earns $7.25 an hour working at Store 24 on Thayer Street, said that she had not heard anything about the increase. Though she earns more than the new minimum wage, she said she now wants her pay to go up as well to keep above that level.
"$7.10 is more than I was making when I first started, and now that's the minimum wage?" Dagliere said. "I guess the moral of the story is, get a different job."
