Washington, D.C. (July 8, 2019) – NFIB, the nation’s leading small business advocacy organization, issued the following statement on behalf of Senior Vice President of Public Policy Brad Close in response to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office’s report, the “Effects on Employment and Family Income of Increasing the Federal Minimum Wage,” which estimates that the Raise the Wage Act would result in a median estimate of 1.3 million lost jobs and $9 billion in total income lost in 2025:
“The small business economy is booming, with owners hiring, growing their businesses, and increasing wages at historic rates. Unlike large corporations, a small business is a family business, and employees are a part of the family. Owners want their employees to succeed, but dramatically and rapidly increasing the federal minimum wage is a surefire way to grind the small business job creation engine to a halt. Our research has shown that the Raise the Wage Act would cost 1.6 million jobs nationwide, with nearly half of those coming from small businesses. The CBO’s estimate of the Raise the Wage Act released today further demonstrates the harm this legislation would cause to our economy. We urge the United States House of Representatives to heed the CBO’s warning and stop this bill from moving forward.”
The NFIB Research Center released a study earlier this year showing that the Raise the Wage Act would lead to massive job losses, lost production, and income reduction on a national scale. The study found:
- $2 trillion reduction in real economic output
- 1.6 million jobs lost
- 900,000 jobs lost at businesses with less than 500 employees, 57 percent of private sector job losses; 700,000 jobs lost at businesses with less than 100 employees, 43 percent of private sector job losses
- 615,000 able-bodied individuals who would no longer be in the workforce
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