Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Economic Forum

Boise Education Association members, Morgan Coats, Kari Overall, and Christine Simon participated in a Martin Luther King, Jr. economic forum at the Idaho Capitol on Monday, January 16.

The Idaho Job Coalition sponsored a “Kitchen Table Economics” discussion to highlight the struggles of working families in Idaho.  Keynote speaker Dr. Stephen Cooke, a retired University of Idaho professor, outlined a grim litany of facts about jobs in Idaho. For example:

• In 2009, the average wage in the United States was close to $46,000. In Idaho it was about $35,000. Idaho has consistently ranked 47th or 48th in wages over the past decade.
• Although Idaho added many jobs during the first decade of this century, most were in low-wage occupations including retail, call centers, dairies, and home health caregivers.
• Boise used to be known as a corporate headquarters town, but it has lost that status (and with it, many higher-wage jobs).

Individuals were asked to share personal stories of economic concerns and hardships.  Morgan talked about the difficulties of having student loan debt as a new-to-career when salaries have been frozen for the past three years.  Kari told the crowd of about 250 people that due to furloughed work days and no salary increases, she and her husband are making house payments, re-paying student loans, and starting a family with the same amount of income as they had four years ago.  Christine, after spending a career in education, is concerned about how three years of no salary increases and lost income because of furloughed work days is harming her long-term retirement income.

Their stories, and the stories of other teachers, firefighters, students, and workers across the Treasure Valley, brought home the need for Idaho economic policies to encourage re-investment in our workers and raise the level of wages to bring actual economic growth back to our state.

 

---