In an article February, 4 2016, the Idaho Business Review reported what Samia Islam said in regards to the three percent pay increase for public sector.
“Gov. C.L. ‘Butch’ Otter has proposed to raise public sector pay by 3 percent. Prof. Samia Islam, an economist at Boise State University, said increasing pay in the public sector could have a positive effect on Idaho wages at large because it creates more overall competition for labor. But she said any such effect would be small.
Idaho has not caught up to pre-2008 furlough and layoff wage levels and has fallen further behind both national and regional wage averages. A three percent raise would barley offset inflation, Islam said.”