The minimum wage for workers in Des Moines tracks alongside the federal rate of $7.25 per hour, despite legislative efforts to raise the wage throughout Iowa in early 2015.
Attempts to raise the minimum wage to $8.75 per hour by 2016 failed in the last legislative
session, the Iowa City Press-Citizen reported.
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That rate falls below the calculated living wage rate
from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It suggests that one person living in Des Moines should earn $10.44 to keep up with the cost of living there. MIT says the annual living wage salary for one person in Des Moines would need to be $21,715 before taxes.
Minimum wage marks the lowest pay or compensation an employee in a certain state or municipality can receive by law. Living wage calculates what funds are needed for everyday needs, based on a number of factors including marriage, children, debt, cost-of-living, and expenses like healthcare.
"As low wages drag down the economy, this failure to increase the minimum wage deals a blow to hundreds of thousands of Iowa families who would have benefited from an increase — and the Iowa businesses that would have benefited from their increased buying power," wrote Mike Owen in the Press-Citizen.
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The increase was supported by labor activists and opposed by hospitality industry groups and the National Federation of Independent Business,
the Des Moines Register reported.
The average cost of living in Des Moines was 6 percent below the national
average, according to Forbes. The magazine said the median annual income was $59,339 while the median home price was $168,600.
Forbes placed the city at No. 2 behind Raleigh, North Carolina, in its list of best places for businesses and careers.
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