WHAT WORK? JOBS WILL DRY UP IF COALITION GETS ITS WAY
TRENTON (May 16, 2016): In response to this morning’s press conference by members of the Raise New Jersey Coalition, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) is telling a cautionary tale of increased joblessness if the groups effort to implement a bundle of anti-business bills proves successful.
“The one thing we all agree on is that when our economy is strong, everyone in the Garden State wins. Unfortunately, the current political rhetoric has become so extremely anti-business that our differences now vastly outweigh our similarities,” said NFIB New Jersey state director, Laurie Ehlbeck. “Governor Christie has, thankfully, protected the small business community to the best of his abilities by vetoing legislation that would have decimated employment. The thought of this group succeeding in circumventing his authority to continue to do that is almost as frightening as what could happen when he is no longer in office.”
A coordinated campaign was recently launched to pressure legislators to commit to by-passing Governor Christie’s veto ability. Their focus includes multiple bills that would result in a dramatic surge in labor costs as well as increasing and further complicating regulations for employers that continue to fight to recover after the great recession.
“New Jersey continues to lag behind nationally with economic growth and employment levels barely returning to pre-recession levels. We already know thanks to our study released last week that the state stands to lose tens of thousands of jobs and billions of dollars if proponents of $15 an hour prevail, the only question is the speed and severity of the impact,” continued Ehlbeck. “If this campaign is successful and these bad for business bills become law, proponents will be harming the very people they claim to want to help. What everyone needs to understand is the harder and more expensive you make it to operate a business in the state of New Jersey, the fewer jobs will be available to work.”
For more information on NFIB Research Foundation’s study please see below.
