A $15 base pay mandate could kill 101,000 jobs in the Commonwealth.
Will Massachusetts Consider Another Minimum Wage Hike?
The push for an ever-higher minimum
wage isn’t going away anytime soon nationwide, nor in Massachusetts. Although
the Commonwealth is in the final stretch of incrementally increasing the
minimum wage to $11 per hour by 2017, advocates are already beginning to make
arguments for another wage hike.
The Massachusetts Budget and Policy
Center recently released a report about the state and local impact of raising
the minimum wage—29 percent of the state’s workers would receive a raise—but
the story was incomplete. The report failed to account for the fact that, if a
drastic wage mandate were implemented, many small business employers would have
to choose between cutting hours, laying off employees, or shutting down
completely, all of which ends up hurting the very workers the pay increase is
intended to help.
In fact, a recent study released by
the Heritage Foundation showed that a state $15 minimum wage could result in
the loss of more than 100,000 Massachusetts jobs by 2021. NFIB/MA State
Director Bill Vernon has spoken out about this in the past, noting that another
minimum wage hike could lead to price increases or delayed plans to add jobs.
Small business owners are frustrated with being forced to operate amid economic
uncertainty, when it’s impossible to plan for the future.
One tool small business owners can
use to speak out: Wage
Engage, a mobile app that business owners can use to contact
legislators and share how minimum wage legislation affects your business and
your employees.
