University to decrease jobs after state increases minimum wage
Saginaw Valley State University (SVSU) is anticipating major cuts in student employment opportunities after budgeting for state mandated increases in Michigan’s minimum wage.
In an interview with The Valley Vanguard, Jim Muladore, SVSU executive vice president of administration and business affairs, estimated that Michigan’s minimum wage increase will cost the university approximately $760,000 annually by 2018.
The problem is that the university, which is facing depressed fall enrollment numbers and diminishing housing and dining revenue, cannot fund these additional costs within departments.
“In order to maintain their budgets, departments will likely be pressed to hire less students or decrease the amount of hours student employees are able to work,” the Vanguard reports.
However, Saginaw Valley State University is not the only Michigan university amending their budget.
Central Michigan University (CMU), the fifth largest university in the state, is preparing departments for a $691,000 wage increase for the anticipated 5,400 student hires.
The Workforce Opportunity Wage Act, signed into law by Governor Rick Snyder (R), ties minimum wage to inflation, mandating an increase from $8.15 on September 1, 2014, to $9.25 per hour come January 1, 2018.
Saginaw Valley State University, which reportedly hires 800 on-campus student employees during the fall and winter semesters, did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication.
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