Despite our booming economy and near-record-low unemployment rates, many Coloradans feel no matter how hard they work, they just can’t seem to get ahead.

They’re not imagining it. As pointed out in our recent Guide to Economic Mobility, average weekly wages increased by only $33 between 2000 and 2016 and the number of low-wage jobs in Colorado is growing. Colorado University’s Leeds School of Business reports nearly two-thirds of all jobs and 3 out of 4 new jobs created in 2016 were in industries paying below the state’s average wage.

Assistant managers at fast food restaurants, floor managers at department stores, executive assistants – roles once considered to be the first stepping stone to success in the middle class – along with many others lag behind because, in part, outdated rules on overtime limit their pay.

The best way to boost wages and our economy is through action. For example, Coloradans voted in 2016 to increase our state’s minimum wage, gradually taking it from $8.39 per hour to $12.00 per hour by 2020.  This increases the floor for wages and, when fully implemented, will raise the pay of nearly 500,000 Coloradans working in jobs that pay the lowest.

Colorado policymakers could also help workers by modernizing our rules for overtime pay and adjusting them to more fully reflect the changes due to inflation.

Federal and state laws require most workers in the U.S. be paid a minimum wage and, when they work more than 40 hours in a week, be paid overtime at one and half times their regular pay. These rules are intended to ensure most workers who put in more than 40 hours a week are paid for the extra hours they work.

Hourly workers are automatically eligible to receive overtime pay, but salaried workers are excluded if they perform executive, professional, or administrative duties and earn less than the salary threshold – currently $455 per week or $23,660 per year.

If both criteria are met, workers are excluded from getting paid overtime. If a salary worker performs executive, professional, or administrative duties, but earns less than the threshold, they are eligible for overtime. If they earn more than the threshold, but do not perform executive, professional or administrative duties, they can also get paid overtime.

But because the salary threshold is so low, many Colorado salaried workers do not qualify for overtime pay and find themselves working longer hours for no additional pay. Modernizing our rules and adjusting the salary threshold to account for inflation would help more Coloradans get paid for their hard work.

While a small adjustment to the salary threshold was made in 2004, it has not been adjusted for inflation since 1975. At that time, more than 6 out of 10 salaried workers received overtime pay. Today, only about 1 out of 13 salaried workers in Colorado automatically qualifies for overtime.

In 2016, the Obama administration issued a rule to raise the salary threshold to $913 per week or $47,476 a year. This would have partially restored it to the 1975 level when adjusted for inflation, and increased the number of Coloradans who automatically receive overtime pay by almost 250,000.

A federal district court in Texas first blocked the proposal’s implementation, then ruled it invalid. The Trump administration has said they may revise the overtime rule, but likely with a much smaller increase to the threshold.

Colorado policymakers have the power to act and set our overtime threshold higher than the federal level. Setting it to at least the level recommended by the Obama administration would help all salary workers earning modest wages, but it would particularly benefit women, younger workers, and those whose highest level of education is a high school diploma, as well as black and Hispanic employees, largely because these groups make up a large portion of the workers at this salary level. Additionally, a recent poll shows 8 out 10 Colorado voters approve of modernizing our overtime rules.

Employers could take several actions, too. They could pay workers overtime, raise workers’ salaries above the salary threshold to avoid paying overtime, or spread the work among additional workers, thus reducing the amount of overtime worked. They could also reduce workers’ hours, so employees don’t work more than 40 hours a week, giving workers more time to spend with family and friends. Each of these actions would benefit Colorado workers by either raising their salaries or reducing the hours they must work to earn their current pay.

Raising the salary threshold to automatically qualify for overtime pay will ensure more Colorado workers get paid for the hours they work, putting an estimated $74,000 per week into the pockets of middle-income workers. It’s a move that not only improves the financial futures of many Coloradans, but also the state’s economy.