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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Eye On Boise

Idaho slips from highest in nation for workers earning minimum wage to 2nd-highest, after Tennessee

Idaho has slipped from first in the nation for its proportion of workers earning the minimum wage, to second after Tennessee, according to the latest report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Idaho’s percentage of workers earning the $7.25 per hour minimum dropped from 7.4 percent in 2012 to 7.1 percent in 2013, at the same time that Tennessee saw a big increase in minimum wage workers that boosted it up from 5.5 percent to 7.4 percent.

Both Idaho and Tennessee remain far below the national average of 4.3 percent, which was down from 4.7 percent a year earlier. In Idaho, two of every three jobs created in 2013 were in the service sector. You can read more here from the Idaho Department of Labor, and see the full federal report here.



Betsy Z. Russell
Betsy Z. Russell joined The Spokesman-Review in 1991. She currently is a reporter in the Boise Bureau covering Idaho state government and politics, and other news from Idaho's state capital.

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