House members are still trying to lift the state from the likes of Wyoming, Arkansas, and Georgia, the four states with minimum wages lower the federal $7.25 an hour.

Minnesota’s minimum wage is $6.15 an hour and was last raised in 2005.

Led by Rep. Ryan Winkler, DFL-Golden Valley, who authored the House bill, the House of Representatives Select Committee on Living Wage Jobs made the Duluth Labor Temple’s Wellstone Hall their first of nine stops in a tour of the state July 24.

That evening they were in Hibbing on their interim tour where they are asking workers across the state, “How is Minnesota’s economy working for you?” At the meetings, the committee will share their findings and ask for community input on legislation.

While some may say the state should keep its nose out of issues that are between an employer and its workers, Winkler said that’s not the case.

“Minnesota has programs to provide services like home health care and child care and we need to try to pay those people better. If we don’t take the move how can we ask others to do it?”

In the last session the Legislature also increased the subsidy that helps raise the pay of poorly paid nursing home workers.

Over two dozen turned out in Wellstone Hall and that’s just the way Rep. Erik Simonson of Duluth expected it.

“I knew we’d have good input on living wage jobs from people in Wellstone Hall in Duluth. People here get it, and we get it on our side (in the House. One aspect of improving the economy is a living wage.”

The discussion included the whole gamut from public education, to training workers, to corporate culture, which seeks to hire part-time workers and independent contractors. Even the Affordable Care Act will reward employers for part-time workers.

Rep. Joe Radinovich of Crosby-Ironton knows about living wages. His dad and brother are both members of IBEW Local 242.

“Are we educating people in the wrong way?” he asked.“A minimum wage increase is part of the answer, but 40 to 70 percent of jobs don’t pay enough for people to live on.”

Marsh Stenersen, a former representative for AFSCME, said many of his members were low-wage employees and when the minimum wage would be increased it helped his members. After he retired he got a job driving a STRIDE bus at $12 an hour.

“So many people I talked to (bus riders) said, boy, that’s really good,” Stenersen told the committee.

Buddy Robinson of the Citizen’s Federation told the committee that in 1997 Duluth passed a living wage ordinance for $7.25 indexed to the Consumer Price Index for jobs created with city subsidies. Yet Duluth still has the largest number of working poor in the state.

“Workers need a fair chance to organize and bargain collectively for their jobs,” Robinson said. “Federal labor law is stacked against workers, and the state should cover its shortcomings like with card check/ neutrality.”

Minnesota has always had one of the best educated workforces in the nation but employers are saying they can’t find skilled workers. They also don’t feel any obligation to train workers as they’ve done in the past. And they’re complaining about taxes that can help fund schools.

“We’ve got some great mismatches,” said Winkler. “Employers are looking for the pink unicorn, they’re looking for too exact an employee.”

Two participants said even people with doctorates can’t find jobs.

“We’ve got a just-in-time global supply chain and it’s the same for the labor market,” Winkler said. “The U.S. has fewer protections for workers than a lot of other places. Low-wage workers are subsidizing more low-wage jobs. No bill in 2014 will change that. We need to change the culture and standards.”