A new report from the Iowa Policy Project (IPP) outlines the impacts a hike in the minimum wage would have in the state’s most populous county. IPP research director Peter Fisher says boosting the minimum wage in Polk County to 12 or 15 dollars an hour would benefit between 60,000 to 88,000 workers. Fisher argues a significant increase in the minimum wage is long overdue.

“The value that workers produce has nearly doubled in the last 50 years and over that same time period, real wages have grown only about 20-percent and the minimum wage, when corrected for inflation, has actually fallen by a quarter,” Fisher said. Iowa’s minimum wage stands at $7.25, the same as the federal minimum.

Twenty-nine states, including five surrounding Iowa, have a minimum wage higher than the federal level. Fisher says his report counters what opponents of hiking the minimum wage argue — that it primarily impacts young people or those working part-time. Fisher says, of all the people who’d benefit from an increase in the minimum wage, just 13-percent would be under the age of 20.

“A much bigger chunk is over the age of 40, 38-percent, almost three-times as many,” Fisher said. “And they’re not just part-time workers, around two-thirds of the people who would benefit are working full-time.” Raising the minimum wage in Polk County, according to Fisher, would increase total income in the local economy by up to $444 million. That’s because the affected workers would likely spend their extra money on basic needs.

“Most of which, you have to purchase locally,” Fisher said. “So, it’s an economic boost to the local economy. Which, in fact, increases sales for precisely the kinds of businesses most affected by the minimum wage — retail, food service, et cetera. A lot of those low-wage jobs can expect some increase in sales.” Both Polk and Linn County officials are studying plans to hike minimum wages above the state law. Johnson County’s minimum is already two-dollars an hour above the state and will increase to $10.10/hour in January.

(Radio Iowa)