NFIB: Texas Minimum Wage Hike Would Hurt Young, Entry-Level Workers
“A minimum wage hike in Texas would harm small business owners and their employees across the state,” said NFIB/Texas Executive Director Will Newtown.
State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer and others are pushing a bill that would boost the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour, a move that would hurt the state’s economy.
“The minimum wage is a starting wage, and increasing it will hurt the very people it aims to help—young, entry-level workers who will no longer have the skills to qualify for higher paying jobs,” Newton says. “A previous study by the NFIB Research Foundation found that nearly 50 percent of the time, small business owners would lay off employees, cut hours or leave vacancies open. Many small business owners will consider price increases to compensate for increased wage costs. The truth is that employees pay for the minimum wage increase in the form of fewer hours, lost jobs and benefits, and increased living costs.”
Gov. Greg Abbot has called minimum wage hike proposals job-killers, citing the statistic that about 93 percent of all workers in Texas are being paid above the minimum wage.
“The average minimum wage in the state is about $12 an hour, so the minimum wage is paying good in the state of Texas,” Abbot said on the campaign trail.
A 2014 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that nationwide, a $10.10 minimum wage could cost the economy 500,000 jobs.
Question: How would a minimum wage hike impact your Texas small business? Tell us in the comments section below.
