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(KSL News) Representative Chris Cannon is defending comments he made last week about minimum wage during a campaign debate on KSL's "Decision 2006: A Conversation with the Candidates."
Rep. Chris Cannon, (R) Utah: "If you're on minimum wage, go back to school or just go down to the local McDonald's and get a better job, because jobs are going for $7.50 everywhere today."
He also said, "Nobody in Utah is on minimum wage."
However, federal labor statistics show four-thousand people were making minimum wage last year in Utah. Another 12-thousand were below that.
Cannon says those figures are outdated, and wonders if the numbers are NOT including tips earned by restaurant help.
Rep. Chris Cannon, (R) Utah: "I've always voted against a minimum wage because the most it will do is that you raise it so high that people stop hiring people."
He says there's no need to raise wages because Utah's hot economy means wages will go higher to attract workers.
