We, as the Journal of Business staff, have spent a lot of time during the past couple of weeks looking ahead to the new year and trying to discern what’s in store for our readers. Following a 2015 that’s been better than expected in many respects, 2016 is looking promising for the most part.

I wrote the employment piece for the Economic Outlook, and while working on that, I thought about a couple of workplace-related ideas that arose this year, but never gained traction: a minimum-wage increase and a mandatory sick-leave policy. Both are highly likely to come up again next year, and the business community should be prepared for conversations on those topics. 

Increasing the minimum wage popped up in a couple of different ways. First, it appeared as part of Proposition One, which was marketed optimistically by its supporters as a Worker Bill of Rights. That measure called for a mandatory family wage, and the way it was constructed, nobody—including its supporters—could say what precisely a family wage would be. It could have been $11 an hour. It could have been $23 an hour. Ultimately, it proved to be moot, as the measure was defeated. 

While running for Spokane City Council president, John Ahern was quoted as saying incumbent Ben Stuckart wanted to implement a $15-an-hour minimum wage. Stuckart refuted that statement and was quoted as saying he thought $15 an hour was too high for Spokane. I would take Ben at his word on that, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see the current Council float a citywide minimum wage that’s lower than $15 an hour, yet well above the current $9.47-an-hour rate. 

Whether the proposed hourly minimum wage is $9.47, $11, $15, or $17, it feels like proponents for increasing the minimum wage are eyeballing it and basing their call for action on anecdotal, emotional appeal rather than data. It would be nice to see the community have an intelligent debate on this subject, one that would start with a conversation about whether minimum wage should be synonymous with living wage. I have always maintained that minimum wage was never intended to be a livable wage, but it would be good to have that conversation as a community. 

While the city council hasn’t addressed minimum wage, it did push for a mandatory citywide sick-leave policy, before deciding to shelf the idea until the new year. 

Our editorial board came out against a mandatory sick leave, because it should be up to each individual employer to determine such a benefit. Our board didn’t say this, but I didn’t like the proposal because proponents didn’t present data to prove the need for such a policy. Such a need was assumed. How many people don’t have paid sick leave in our workforce now? We don’t know, and it’s important to understand that need before we can have a logical conversation on the subject.

The new year is looking like it’s going to be a solid one for the local economy, and in better times, such issues are likely to arise. The business community should make sure its voice is heard in such conversations.