INDIANAPOLIS -- Minimum-wage workers in Indiana last saw a raise six years ago. Judging by the popularity of the topic at the Statehouse, it may be that much longer before they see another.
The state's minimum wage has been fixed at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009, when a 70-cent increase in the federal minimum kicked up Indiana's, too.
Supporters of raising the wage plan a rally at the Statehouse on Friday to mark the anniversary of the that increase.
But theirs is a decidedly uphill battle.
A measure to hike the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour failed to get a hearing in the General Assembly this past session.
Senate Democrats argued that raising it would helping working-class families stay above the poverty line. Republicans who control the chamber with a super-majority said the increase wasn’t needed since the cost of living in Indiana is less than in many of the 29 states with higher minimum wages.
Senate Labor Committee Chairman Phil Boots, R-Crawsfordsville, told The Associated Press when he blocked the bill that he thinks the labor market should set the rate, not the government.
“Everybody is free to earn as much as they want or as little as they want,” he said.
Eleven states increased their minimum wages at the beginning of the year.
Kendra Bush, 49, of Portage, who’s become an activist on the issue, said putting Indiana on that list will require a grassroots movement.
Bush, who has an associate's degree in culinary arts, lost a longtime job with the Gary schools when the district laid off workers due to plunging student enrollment. She now makes minimum wage as a home health aide for an elderly blind man who hopes to avoid moving to a nursing home.
“My kids are grown, thank God, and both have college degrees. But they left Indiana for work,” Bush said. “I don’t know how I’d support a family if my children were young.”
Among her biggest fears are injuring herself and losing her paycheck. Her employer doesn’t offer health insurance, so she buys it on her own.
She makes too much to qualify for Medicaid - even under the state's expanded Healthy Indiana Plan.
“I’m trying to educate people about the minimum wage,” she said. “We just can’t live off it anymore.”
Of 1.7 million Hoosiers who punch a clock or fill out a time card, about 107,000 make minimum-wage or less, according to a study by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only seven other states have more minimum-wage workers.
But while Bush and other advocates say those workers need raises to afford housing, pay the bills and support their children, observers say the state's political leaders and electorate are content to leave the matter to employers.
“There’s a very strong sense among Republican voters and politicians that this is something that the market has to work out,” said Ball State University economist Michael Hicks. “There’s not much support for what would be seen as government interference between bosses and workers.”
Some employers are acting on their own.
Last year Indiana University hiked its internal minimum to $8.25 per hour. It raised that again this year - to $9 an hour.
IU officials say about 40,000 employees – many of them student workers – will benefit from the hike. The decision will cost the university about $2.5 million over two years.
Hicks said debates over raising the minimum wage are complicated by conflicting predictions of the impact.
Proponents say raising the wage will boost workers’ incomes and spending.
Opponents contend it's a job-killer - especially for unskilled workers who often hold the lowest paying jobs.
Both sides can support those arguments, which complicates matters further, said Andy Downs, who heads the Mike Downs Center for Indiana Politics at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne.
For example, a Bloomberg Business report this week examined 11 states that increased minimum wages this year. Six have seen payroll gains; the others saw losses.
“It’s like the Sunday alcohol sales debate,” said Downs, referring to a perennial argument over the tax effects of lifting a ban on liquor sales. “Both sides have legitimate data they can point to. So it becomes a philosophical question of where you want to put your faith.”