CPA Practice Advisor, March 5, 2013

A collection of business owners applauded today's introduction of legislation to raise the federal minimum wage for the first time since 2009. U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Rep. George Miller (D-CA) introduced the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, which would gradually raise the federal minimum wage from its current $7.25 an hour to $10.10, then provide for annual increases linked to the rising cost of living.

"At Costco, we know that paying employees good wages makes good sense for business," said Craig Jelinek, Costco's President and CEO...

Op-Ed By Karen Woodall
Orlando Sentinel, March 1, 2013

... A large body of academic research has shown that higher wages not only increase purchasing power, they improve productivity in the workplace. Both of these benefits mean that when minimum-wage workers get a raise, the benefits spread beyond them to the entire economy.

Floridians understood this principle in 2004 when more than 70 percent of voters amended the state constitution to increase the state minimum wage above the federal minimum by $1, with an automatic annual increase based on inflation. Today, the minimum wage in Florida...

By Kristin Collins, Dale Belluomini, Russell Ferro and Alex Smith
The Doings Hindsdale/A Chicago Sun Times publication, March 1, 2013

Since the minimum wage was established in 1938, people have been arguing whether minimum wage is beneficial for America. ...

Getting rid of the minimum wage will reduce consumer purchasing power, reduce spending, and hurt the overall economy. Also, studies by the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment at the University of California, Berkeley, show that minimum wage does not increase unemployment, even in bad times. The minimum wage helps businesses, people of all...

By Rachael Pacella
Capital Gazette (MD), March 1, 2013 

... The bill calls for a three-step increase in the state’s $7.25 per hour minimum wage. By July 1, 2015, the wage would hit $10. ...

Bill sponsor Del. Aisha Braveboy, D-Prince George’s County, argued that if the minimum wage had kept up with inflation it would be about $10 today. ...

David Cooper of the Economic Policy Institute said increasing the minimum wage would boost consumer spending and the overall economy.

“Raising the minimum wage would ... put more money in the pockets of workers that...

WBAL (Maryland) News, Feb 27, 2013

By Robert Lang 

Lawmakers in Annapolis are considering raising the minimum wage in Maryland. which is now $7.25 an hour.

A bill before the House of Delegates and the Maryland Senate would boost the wage in three stages to $10 an hour by July, 2015, and it would then tie the wage to the cost of living. Additionally, workers who receive tips would get a 20% increase in their wages.

Restaurant owners were among those who testified against the bill at a House committee hearing on Wednesday.

Other business owners...

By Matt Glynn
Buffalo News, Feb 26, 2013 

... Both Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and President Obama have backed increasing the minimum wage. Monday, the Coalition for Economic Justice, State Sen. Timothy M. Kennedy, D-Buffalo, and various advocacy groups and unions said an increase is needed to bring low-wage earners above the federal poverty line.

“It is time to raise the minimum wage to benefit our workers, stimulate our economy and strengthen our communities,” Micaela Shapiro-Shellaby, organizing director of the Coalition for Economic Justice, said at a rally on Franklin Street in downtown Buffalo.

Some state...

World Finance, Feb 22 2013

The age old debate is a moot point; minimum wage increases do not stifle employment

Every time one politician or another proposes doing anything to the minimum wage, be it increase it, cut it, or scrap it altogether, financial and economic commentators go into a frenzy. The general consensus suggests even the most modest of increases will send unemployment skyrocketing and lead small businesses to bankruptcy. This line of argument is as old as minimum wage itself, and just not correct. President Obama has been the latest to start a...

By Karen E. Klein and Nick Leiber
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, February 21, 2013

President Barack Obama’s recent proposal to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour by the end of 2015 has an unlikely ally: a sizable swath of America’s 6 million small employers....  Now, with public anger over income inequality deepening and economic research challenging the notion that higher wages suppress employment, a growing number of small business advocates support a hike.

That includes dozens of business groups and networks composed primarily of small business owners such as the Main Street...

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post, February 21, 2013 

… the White House argues that “modestly” raising the pay rate will not stall the jobs recovery. “A range of economic studies show that modestly raising the minimum wage increases earnings and reduces poverty without jeopardizing employment,” according to the White House press office. ...

At a White House meeting of executives of small and medium-sized business in November that covered a range of economic issues, one advocated for raising the rate.

“I think it’s the ethical thing to do, to come up with a wage that a...

MSNBC, Up with Chris Hayes, Feb 16, 2013

Excerpts (video links below):

Chris Hayes: You actually met with the President along with small business owners. My understanding is that this came up - specifically minimum wage.

Lew Prince, Owner, Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis: Yes. … The President sat down in the room with a dozen small business people. and literally said what can I do for you? The first thing that one of us said, the guy that owns Uncommon Goods in Brooklyn - raise the minimum wage to ten bucks. In unison the other...

By Rick Ungar
Forbes, Feb 16, 2013

... John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods—a well known libertarian who has been vocal in his opposition to other Obama supported programs such as the Affordable Care Act—sees the benefits of paying above the minimum wage. Reports CBS News, “According to Kate Lowery, head of public relations at Whole Foods, the average non-executive hourly pay is $18.63. Executives there have argued that higher morale, presumably in part because of better pay, leads to higher productivity and lower turnover.”

The same goes for retail giant Costco whose senior...

By Sarah Meehan
Baltimore Business Journal, Feb 15, 2013

As state and federal legislators push to raise the minimum wage, Maryland business owners are split over how that change would impact their bottom lines.

Shortly after state representatives introduced General Assembly proposals to raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 an hour, President Barack Obama during his State of the Union address announced an initiative to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour.

Backers of the state bill, such as Del. Aisha Braveboy, D-Prince George’s, were pleased that Obama...

Business leaders seem mixed about the president's State of the Union call to raise the federal baseline wage.

By Bruce Kennedy
MSN Money, Feb 13, 2013

The media and blogosphere lit up Tuesday night after President Barack Obama's call for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour -- and to tie the minimum wage to the cost of living. ...

... But New York's governor has already proposed a minimum-wage raise in his state, and some business leaders there approve.

"Raising the minimum wage will put more money in...

By Charles Wilbanks, Alain Sherter
CBS News, Feb 13, 2013

(MoneyWatch) In issuing his call for an increase in the minimum wage in Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama reignited an old debate: Do such well-meaning efforts actually backfire, resulting in more unemployment and hardship for people at the bottom as businesses adjust their hiring to compensate for higher costs?

Many conservative economists and businesses cite such arguments in opposing mandatory hikes, and a lot of money changes hands lobbying against them -- lobbying that usually succeeds. It's easy to forget, for example...

By Dennis Phillips
Post-Journal (Jamestown, NY), Feb 8, 2013

State and federal chamber of commerce leaders are supporting an increase in New York's minimum wage, and they're not alone. 

On Thursday, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage held a press conference call with business and chamber leaders who support the proposed hike. In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in his State of the State address a proposition to increase the low-income wage from $7.25 to $8.75. ...  

Margot Dorfman, U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, said a wage hike is overdue. She...