Minimum wage rare on state line

With Washington’s minimum wage now the highest in the nation at $8.07 per hour, Mindy Ledbetter is surprised she doesn’t see more job applications from Idaho residents.

“You can go just five miles and make more money,” Ledbetter, manager at the Liberty Lake Subway, said last week as her staff prepared for the sandwich shop’s noon-hour rush. “$5.85 compared to $8.07 – that’s huge.”

On Jan. 1, Washington’s minimum wage rose 14 cents per hour to the new level, while Idaho’s minimum wage remains at the federal level of $5.85 per hour.

Theoretically, Idaho’s entry-level workers should be swarming across the state line in search of higher pay. The fact that they aren’t suggests market forces have already pared the $2 per hour discrepancy in the states’ minimum wages.

At Zip’s Drive-In in Post Falls, the starting wage for employees runs about $7.25 per hour.

“It’s only a 10-minute drive from Washington,” said Lynn Hayes, regional manager for three Zip’s restaurants. “We’d see a huge decrease in applications if we only paid $5.85 per hour.”

Wages at Zip’s decrease with the distance from the border, Hayes noted. At the Rathdrum Zip’s – a 25-minute drive from Liberty Lake – starting pay is $6 per hour.

Nine years ago, Washington voters approved an initiative tying their state’s minimum wage to the cost of living. The wage adjusts each Jan. 1, influencing entry-level pay rates in border towns.

“They have to compete with Washington wages,” said Jerame Williams, manager of the Taco Bell in Liberty Lake.

At Taco Bell’s Post Falls and Coeur d’Alene restaurants, starting pay for workers is more than $7 per hour – not too far behind Washington’s minimum wage, he said.

Kootenai County’s 3 percent unemployment rate also is a factor. Four years of strong job growth has bolstered the paychecks of hotel housekeepers, fast-food workers, landscape laborers and call-center agents.

With demand for entry-level workers on the upswing, most employers pay more than the minimum wage to attract qualified applicants, said Kathryn Tacke, regional economist in Coeur d’Alene for the Idaho Department of Labor.

“A few employers are trying to pay less than $7 per hour,” she said. “But they’re not being very successful in getting workers.”

According to state estimates, 3.5 percent of North Idaho’s work force earned less than $6 per hour last year. Most of those jobs are in rural, outlying counties, Tacke said.

“There aren’t as many options available,” she said, “so they aren’t bidding up the wages.”