Good news for New Hampshire. Vermont’s next mandatory minimum wage hike is set to go off on January 1st, 2023. That means fewer jobs and job creators across the river, a few of whom will consider jumping the border to set up shop in New Hampshire.
Related: Just in Time to Make Things Cost More…Vermont Hikes Minimum Wage.
That sword does, of course, have two edges. They might bring their politics with them. That’s been a problem for years. It is why the Left side of New Hampshire is more like Vermont. To Quote Woody from Toy Story, “someone poisoned the water hole.” It’s a fight we could lose – the 2022 midterms come to mind. But for now, the Blue Green Mountain State knows how much an hour of labor should cost, and you damn well better pay it.
VermontBiz The Vermont Department of Labor has announced an increase to the State’s minimum wage. Beginning January 1, 2023, the State’s minimum wage will become $13.18 per hour. This is an increase of $0.63 from the current minimum wage of $12.55.
This annual adjustment also impacts the minimum wage for tipped employees. The Basic Tipped Wage Rate for service, or “tipped employees,” equals 50% of the full minimum wage. On January 1, 2023, the tipped minimum wage will increase from $6.28 to $6.59 per hour.
It’s anyone’s guess how many jobs it will destroy in this economy or if there will be any small business casualties. We’ll have to make the time to look at the labor force participation compared to previous years.
Vermont’s labor force dropped nearly 7% in 2020 with the COVID lockouts (to 60.6%). It has only managed to scramble as high as 62.7%, with September numbers showing 61.6%.
With Bidenflation and an economy Democrats have treated like a rental car, things are not looking up financially anywhere but inside the Beltway. The added pressure of the increased minimum wage in Vermont could make matters worse.
Or?
There is a chance the hike could encourage a few folks off the couch. Vermont does not differ in need for workers. While Labor Force participation was in decline for years before the Corona mugging, there is still a good 5% of the workforce that was working before that hit. Maybe the wage hike helps (if it’s better than welfare), but it’s not likely. The minimum wage was created to suppress labor force participation by pricing unskilled workers out of the job market, and raising it won’t change the reality of that.
And Vermont is run by Democrats. They’ll increase the handouts before they encourage people to go make their own way. But it’s a great place to be a Democrat, and I encourage ours to move their
