Legislature should abandon debate on raising state’s minimum-wage rate
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tony Gagliardi, Colorado State Director, [email protected]
or Tony Malandra, Senior Media Manager, [email protected]
DENVER, Colo., July 10, 2018—The nation’s small-business economy showed continued job-creating, wage-boosting vibrancy, according to today’s release of the monthly Small Business Economic Trends report by NFIB.
“We’re continuing to see record highs in plans to create new jobs, in the percentage of small-business owners with open positions, and in compensation increases,” said Tony Gagliardi, NFIB’s Colorado state director. “This is causing strong, upwards pressure on wages and salaries, which are rendering arguments for a higher minimum wage moot. Shortages of qualified job applicants are requiring employers to step up wages and benefits if they want to fill those vacancies—once again proving employers, not bureaucrats, are best at driving the wage bus. The Legislature should not touch the minimum-wage issue and it most definitely should never allow local governments to set their own rates. The great economic news small businesses have been generating since December 2016 should be kept out of harm’s way from legislative tinkering.”
The NFIB Research Center has collected Small Business Economic Trends data with quarterly surveys since the 4th quarter of 1973 and monthly surveys since 1986. Survey respondents are drawn from NFIB’s membership. The report is released on the second Tuesday of each month. Today’s survey was conducted in June 2018.
“Small business owners continue to report astounding optimism as they celebrate strong sales, the creation of jobs, and more profits,” said NFIB President and CEO Juanita Duggan. “The first six months of the year have been very good to small business thanks to tax cuts, regulatory reform, and policies that help them grow.”
Added NFIB Chief Economist William Dunkelberg, “There was a fractional decline in the Index from May to June, statistically insignificant. Small business owners are already seeing their bottom lines grow due to strong sales and regulatory relief and the new tax law is expected to push profits higher as the year progresses.”
The national news release on today’s Small Business Economic Trends report can be read here.
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For more than 75 years, NFIB has been advocating on behalf of America’s small and independent business owners, both in Washington, D.C., and in all 50 state capitals. NFIB is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven. Since our founding in 1943, NFIB has been exclusively dedicated to small and independent businesses and remains so today. For more information, please visit nfib.com.
National Federation of Independent Business/Colorado
1580 Logan St. Suite 520
Denver, CO 80203
303-831-6099
www.nfib.com/colorado
Twitter: @NFIB_CO
