Waging the increase

While the federal minimum wage increase is causing Michael Norwich to raise prices in his El Paso Jack in the Box restaurants, that's not the case at his Odessa and Midland stores.

"The two side-by-side are night and day as far as markets," said Norwich, a franchise operator for 10 Jack in the Box restaurants in El Paso, two in Las Cruces, N.M., and the recently opened Odessa and Midland locations.

So, while Norwich had to pay many El Paso employees more when the minimum wage increased Thursday to $6.55 an hour from $5.85, he's already paying his workers here well above that. But he said more pay leads to more revenue.

"After being in multiple markets, it's exciting to see how successful the Permian Basin has been," he said.

Due to the oil boom, Willie Taylor, executive director of Workforce Solutions Permian Basin, said the job market is "tight and competitive" in Odessa, meaning few will be able to pay workers only minimum wage.

"Not here," Taylor said, "not at all."

Workforce Solutions has set the self-sufficiency wage in the area at $11 an hour, Taylor said. In fact, average weekly pay has increased to $864 in Odessa and $967 in Midland, which is closing in on Dallas' average of $1,012.

"We're getting up toward those big city numbers," he said.

Taylor said some nonprofits could be affected by the minimum wage increase, but Grace Valencia, executive director of Odessa LINKS, said that's not likely.

"As a nonprofit, it's hard to pay somebody just minimum wage," said Valencia, who heads the agency that connects people in need with nonprofit groups that could help them. "We've got McDonald's and Taco Villa paying $7 and $8. I don't think a lot of people are hiring at minimum wage."

Instead, Catholic Charities executive director Faye Rodriguez said she's had trouble filling positions, even when they offer more than minimum wage. A truck driver position for the Catholic Charities thrift store has been vacant more than a year.

"We can't afford to pay a male driver what he gets in the oilfield," she said.

Mike Neeley, director of the YMCA in Odessa, said that of his 125 employees, only a few day care workers would be affected by the minimum wage increase. Still, it won't have a large impact on the budget.

"The truth of the matter is it doesn't affect us that much," he said.

Taylor said there's a chance more employers could be affected when the third round of minimum wage increases goes into affect in July 2009 - but don't hold your breath. That'll send the federal minimum wage to $7.25 an hour.

"It's all about supply and demand," he said. "We could have a flood of workers in here and wages could start dropping."

But none of that matters to Cicalik Delgado. Minimum wage increases have helped improve her pay at the Southside YMCA day care.

Though she knows she can get higher-paying jobs, Delgado loves doing something that will help her earn a degree from the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, where she's studying to become a Spanish teacher.

"I've been offered a lot of jobs where I could get $10 or even $16 an hour," she said. "I don't know. It's not about the money. I just enjoy being around the kids."

Still, she's not turning down the extra money the minimum wage increases have helped bring, especially to help out with school, books and gas.

"It feels good," Delgado said. "It's a lot of help."

Federal minimum hourly wage increase schedule

>> July 24, 2007: $5.15 to $5.85.

>> July 24, 2008: $5.85 to $6.55.

>> July 24, 2009: $6.55 to $7.25.