A ballot proposal seeking to raise Michigan’s hourly minimum wage to $15 over several years has been certified to appear on the ballot in 2024, those behind the initiative announced this week.
The Michigan Bureau of Elections has recommended the Raise the Wage MI ballot measure appear on the ballot in November 2024 after certifying more than 610,000 petition signatures that were submitted in 2022. The Michigan Board of State Canvassers must still approve the proposal before it can appear on the ballot. The proposal is on their agenda for their next meeting on Friday, Oct. 20.
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The proposal aims to gradually raise the state’s hourly minimum wage to $15 by 2027, and then allow it to update annually based on the inflation rate in a process called “indexing.”
According to the Economic Policy Institute, minimum wage is indexed in 18 states and in Washington, D.C., meaning it is “automatically adjusted each year for increases in prices.” Economic analyst David Cooper says that by indexing minimum wage, the hourly salary never loses its value -- and it’s written into law that the wage will rise by a certain amount depending on a specific formula, so politicians are not arbitrarily deciding the number.
One Fair Wage, the national advocacy group leading the initiative, announced on Monday, Oct. 16 that the proposal has been “officially certified for inclusion on the Nov. 5, 2024, ballot” in Michigan. Though petition signatures were gathered and submitted in 2022, they were not submitted in time to be included on the 2022 ballot.
Michigan voters will instead likely be able to vote on the issue amid a major election year, in which Americans will also be voting for the next president.
If passed, the minimum wage initiative would raise Michigan’s hourly minimum wage in increments each year, with the goal of reaching $15 by 2027. Subminimum wages for tipped workers, as well as young workers and workers with disabilities, would also get phased out under the plan -- those workers would reach the hourly $15 wage by 2028.
The proposal aims to change Michigan’s minimum wage process by amending the Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act that was adopted, in part, five years ago.
The 2018 Improved Workforce Opportunity Wage Act proposed to increase Michigan’s minimum wage to $12 per hour by 2022, then establish an indexing plan that would raise the wage each year by a rate that is automatically adjusted for inflation. The Michigan Legislature adopted the 2018 act but modified it, changing the “2022″ deadline to “2030.” The lawmakers established a schedule for minimum wage increases each year in Michigan, with plans to reach an hourly wage rate of $12.05 by 2030.
The state’s current minimum wage was $10.10 per hour as of Jan. 1, a few dollars higher than the national minimum wage that rests at $7.25 per hour, and has since 2009.
A Michigan Court of Claims judge ruled last year that the state Legislature’s altering of the adopted 2018 ballot measure was unconstitutional. In 2018, the Republican-led state Legislature adopted two ballot proposals -- the minimum wage act and a proposal guaranteeing sick leave -- after they cleared the signature threshold and to avoid a vote, but lawmakers made changes to the proposals before they were signed into law.
The state’s hourly minimum wage did not get automatically raised to $12 after that decision was made, though. State attorneys appealed the claims court’s decision, and the appeals court sided with attorneys this January, reversing the court of claims’ ruling and blocking a minimum wage increase.
The appellate court decision was appealed to the Michigan Supreme Court, which said earlier this year that it is hearing the case. A decision has not yet been made.
Learn more: Minimum wage: How we got here and why it’s not working
US minimum wage over time
Between 1938 and the late 1960s, the federal government raised the minimum wage at a fairly consistent pace with the nation’s productivity level -- meaning that as the workforce was able to produce more money, the minimum wage was being raised at roughly the same rate, analyst Cooper said. By the end of the 1960s, however, minimum wage laws were not given the same consideration.
Data shows that the federal minimum wage increased during the 1970s, but inflation was also rising significantly at that time -- essentially rendering the wage stagnant throughout the decade. Conditions did not improve in the 1980s, when inflation continued to rise, but the federal government chose not to adjust the minimum wage in response.
The minimum wage was slightly raised at a few points in the 90s, and then a few times in the 2000s -- and then it stopped.
When adjusted for inflation, the federal minimum wage was actually 33% lower in 2020 than it was in 1970. When adjusted for inflation, minimum wage reached its peak in 1968.
Here’s a look how minimum wage has changed throughout U.S. history, and how it compares when adjusted for inflation.
The federal minimum wage for tipped employees is currently $2.13 per hour, as long as a person earns at least the federal minimum wage with that rate plus tips.
So, what should the minimum wage be now?
If the federal minimum wage was raised at a consistent rate alongside productivity levels -- like it was in the 1960s -- the minimum wage would be around $23-$24 per hour today, Cooper said.
“In the late 1960s, minimum wage was equal to about half of the median wage,” Cooper said. “Today, it’s equal to less than one-third of what a typical middle-class worker in the economy makes.”
The Raise the Wage MI ballot measure also seeks to phase out the subminimum wage for tipped workers in the state. The current minimum hourly wage for tipped Michigan workers is $3.84.