December 6, 2019
Peter Moore, P.E., F.ASCE, ENV SP, LEED AP
President, Chen Moore and Associates
Last week: Last week there was much discussion about a Constitutional Amendment in Florida about raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. Let me be clear, all my employees already make more than this rate, but I think government impacting business decisions is bad policy. Currently, the $8.46 hourly rate is nearly 17% higher than the Federal rate, and just moving is to $10 would be another 18% higher. Preliminary numbers show about 200,000 jobs would be lost if implemented, but factoring in indirect jobs, this would be over 500,000 jobs which will disproportionately impacting the most needy.
Looking ahead: Billions of dollars in federal fundingﾗalong with congressional representationﾗare at stake for Floridians in the 2020 census. While children aged 0-5 have been a historically hard to enumerate population, children can also play a critical role in explaining the importance of the census to their parents and other relatives. This rings especially true for those who live in immigrant households, as children and teens can help mitigate fear and mistrust of the census that has permeated immigrant communities. With an estimated 2.5 million people becoming Florida residents since 2010, we must achieve nothing less than a complete count!
