In 2016, the Boulder Chamber stood alone as the only chamber organization across Colorado to support a ballot initiative to raise the statewide minimum wage. We did then, as we do today, heed these memorable remarks of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen: “Rising income inequality is probably the single most important economic issue facing the country.” And we applauded the strong majority of voters who approved that year’s statewide minimum wage increase.
Many of the conditions that justified a minimum wage increase in 2016 are consistent with today’s environment. As Executive Director for the Emergency Family Assistance Agency, Julie van Domelen, expressed so well during a recent Boulder Chamber debate over today’s proposed local minimum wage increase, wages aren’t keeping pace with inflation. As a consequence, community members are struggling mightily, and the number of those in financial distress here in Boulder is growing.
Yet conditions for our local businesses (including our non-profit organizations) are very different these days. They face rising costs due to inflation, property tax increases, and workforce expenses. Further, this is an unusual period in Boulder’s economic trajectory. The advent of remote work conditions as standard practice is a lasting legacy of the COVID pandemic and has led to unprecedentedly high office vacancies and vastly reduced employee foot traffic for our restaurants, retail shops and other service businesses. As a consequence, these businesses – and many of our non-profits – are struggling, too. And this all comes at a time when the infusion of ARPA dollars is running out, diminishing the capacity of our local government to toss lifelines in the event any one of the above post-COVID area challenges spells the death knell for a given industry sector…