IN THE NEWS: NFIB in New York on Minimum Wage Bills Before the Legislature

May 2, 2023 Last Edit: June 5, 2025

IN THE NEWS: NFIB in New York on Minimum Wage Bills Before the Legislature

Last week, NFIB New York State Director Ashley Ranslow wrote a commentary article for the Albany Times-Union, “Small businesses can’t take another minimum wage hike,” calling on the New York Legislature to oppose bills that would hike the minimum wage to more than $21 per hour. >>> The Albany Times-Union Friday, April 28, 2023 Small businesses can’t take another minimum wage hike There’s an affordability crisis in New York state. That indisputable statement is reflected in a recent Siena College poll that found 67 percent of New Yorkers ranked the Empire State as “fair” or “poor” on affordability. These sentiments are not limited to everyday New Yorkers but are also deeply felt by small-business owners from Long Island to Buffalo. Many small businesses never fully recovered from the economic damage of the pandemic before facing unrelenting financial pressures from inflation, supply chain disruptions, rising utility bills, high gas prices, labor shortages and an increase in state Unemployment Insurance taxes. All of these intense financial pressures have forced small businesses to increase the price of their goods and services over the last two years, further adding to inflation. But instead of New York state seriously presenting solutions to address affordability, lawmakers are proposing a 42 percent increase in the state’s minimum wage, which will only exacerbate the affordability crisis, weaken New York’s economy and disproportionately impact small businesses pleading for a lifeline. The deep-pocketed and powerful labor unions and progressive-left organizations are behind a well-funded effort to include legislation in the final state budget to increase the downstate minimum wage to $21.25 and the upstate minimum wage to $20.00. This bill’s radical wage escalation of $6 per hour takes place over just three years and creates an indexing mechanism to increase the wage rate annually in New York in perpetuity, regardless of any economic factors such as a recession or high unemployment rate. This extreme proposal will ultimately lead to job loss, automation, price increases, cyclical inflation and the elimination of entry-level employment opportunities. To see the real-world economic impact of drastic wage hikes, look no further than the last minimum wage increase, enacted in 2016, which is still being phased in throughout upstate New York. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s February Supplemental Survey Report found that nearly 40 percent of manufacturers have increased “automation” at factories since 2016, and a companion Business Leaders Survey found that automation has increased in about 20 percent of service firms. Both surveys found that in both industries, the total number of workers employed, total number of entry level workers employed, and weekly hours worked had all decreased. Survey respondents attributed all of these trends to New York’s 2016 minimum wage statute. This is not fearmongering or “Chicken Little” reactions. Jobs have been lost, automation is growing rapidly, and New York’s economy is worse off for it. However, most concerning is the outsized impact a minimum wage increase has on Main Street, as demonstrated by a February 2023 study commissioned by the National Federation of Independent Business. According to the study, by 2033 there would be a negative employment impact of almost 128,000 jobs, representing over 1 percent of the state’s employment base — and almost 83,000, or 65 percent, of those jobs would be in small businesses. Additionally, by 2033, there would be a negative economic output impact of over $19 billion — almost $12 billion, or 60 percent, of which would be produced by small businesses. Big-box stores, online retail giants and other large corporations will continue to cut labor costs through automation, and New Yorkers will see even more self-checkout lines, tablets to place food orders, and robots working in warehouses. Small businesses will suffer the greatest losses and will be put at an even greater competitive disadvantage. This minimum wage proposal must be rejected. Otherwise, the Empire State’s Main Streets will lose their independent shops that bring uniqueness and vitality, family-owned farms will continue to go under, and New Yorkers will be left with empty storefronts while Fortune 500 companies reap the benefits. Ashley Ranslow is New York state director of the National Federation of Independent Business.

Topics:

Taxes

State:

New York

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