This week, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is signing an executive order that will require many previously exempt business that receive municipal subsidies to pay their workers $13.13 an hour. The de Blasio Administration estimates that 18,000 workers will benefit from the change over the next five years. In Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants all his city’s agencies to pay a $13/hr minimum wage, after having already signed an executive order mandating that city contractor’s pay at least that much. On the other hand, in Iowa, Republican US Senate candidate Joni Ernst, who has been endorsed by the NFIB, argued in a Sunday debate that a federal minimum wage is unnecessary and did not endorse increasing the minimum wage in Iowa from $7.25 an hour.
Why It Matters To Small Business:
While some of the recent actions taken to boost the minimum wage apply only to government contractors, they are part of a wider campaign involving labor unions and the Obama White House that could result in steep wage increases affecting all employers.
Further Reading:
The New York Times covers de Blasio’s executive action, the Chicago Sun-Times reports on Emanuel’s recent comments on the subject of the minimum wage and the Washington Postnoted Ernst’s statement of her position on the issue in a debate Sunday night. ThePhiladelphia Inquirer describes a “rally…[that] was billed as a fight for increasing the minimum wage,” but, instead, “took on the character of a Democratic campaign rally, with not a single low-wage earner in sight.”
Read more about NFIB’s work on minimum wage.
This news article is intended to keep small business owners apprised of current events that may affect them. It does not necessarily reflect NFIB’s policy position on such issues.
