By Scott Lynch
Direct Capital Blog, April 22, 2015
It’s 2015 and small businesses nationwide are hoping it will usher in growth and prosperity. ... In the graphic below, Direct Capital has illustrated a number of factors that could change the landscape of American small business dramatically. ...
MINIMUM WAGE INCREASES
Negative: Republicans have strongly opposed Obama’s call for a minimum wage increase from $7.25/hr. to $10.10/hr., which would further squeeze the budgets of small business owners who are already struggling to make payroll. However, voters in five (usually conservative) states cast ballots in favor of the increase: Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
Positive: According to Holly Sklar, director of the advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, the success of referendums and legislative votes to raise the minimum in 10 other states this year may encourage Republicans to support Obama’s higher federal minimum. They may also be inclined to raise the minimum as the 2016 election approaches.
Other: When adjusted for inflation, the 2009 federal minimum was still less than the minimum wage through most of the period from 1961 to 1981. The last federal minimum wage raise increase came on July 24, 2009, to $7.25/hr. This was the final step of a three-step increase passed in 2007 when the minimum wage was set at $5.15/hr. In this last step, about 4.5 million workers received a raise that provided an additional $1.6 billion annually in increased wages. ...