HARTFORD (January 26, 2017): In response to today’s press conference supporting legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour (House Bill 6456), the following statement may be attributed to National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Connecticut State Director, Andrew Markowski:
While Connecticut is continuing to be faced with unemployment problems and what appears to be an incalculable budget deficit, attempting to legislate higher wages is counterintuitive at best, especially at a time when lawmakers from the Governor on down are talking about the need to bring greater predicability and stability to the business community.
Crippling employers that have been brave enough to remain in Connecticut in spite of our current economic climate is not going to create the long-term growth that the small business community has been craving for years. What it will do is stifle an employer’s ability to create more jobs or worse yet, lead to a reduction in existing jobs. Small businesses in Connecticut simply cannot afford a government mandated $15 an hour minimum wage, and neither can our state’s economy as a whole.
