By  Frank L. Cahill
Parsippany Focus (NJ), Dec 20, 2019. Also in the Morris County Focus.

PARSIPPANY — New Jersey’s minimum wage will increase to $11.00 on January 1, in another step toward the $15.00 minimum wage enacted in February. Business leaders say that raising the minimum wage will boost consumer buying power, foster a more stable and productive workforce, and strengthen businesses and the economy.

New Jersey is one of 21 states raising its minimum wage at the new year, including six states (New Jersey, California, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts and New York) on track to...

By Tod Perry
Upworthy, Sept 27, 2019

The federal minimum wage in the United States is a paltry $7.25 and it hasn't gone up since 2009.

"It's not acceptable," Holly Sklar, CEO of the advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, told CNBC. "The whole point of the minimum wage is to have it go up regularly. It shouldn't sit still every year when the cost of living is going up. The minimum wage is losing value." ...

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By Elizabeth G Dunn
Bloomberg, September 10, 2019

Michael Lastoria, chief executive officer of &Pizza, a Washington, D.C.-based chain with 36 locations up and down the East Coast, is tall, slim, and serene, with a full beard and brown hair that falls past his shoulders. ...

What Lastoria does want to talk about to anyone who will listen is his ambition to turn &Pizza into the most progressive fast-food employer in the nation. That starts with pay: Store employees, whom the company calls “tribe members,” are among the best-paid fast-food workers in the nation. At &Pizza...

By Andrew Bloomenthal
Investopedia, Updated Aug 4, 2019

... Since 2009, the federal minimum wage has been $7.25, or $15,080 a year. Many economists believe this is woefully inadequate and unjust. ...  Groups like Small Business Majority, Main Street Alliance and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage also support a higher wage, which they believe will inspire employee loyalty and boost workplace morale, which leads to more satisfied customers and an increase in consumer spending.

The Real Issue: Who Can Survive on Today's Minimum Wage?

The minimum wage is meant to be a living wage. In 1933, five years before...

By Mike Bebernes, Editor, Yahoo News 360
Yahoo News, July 29, 2019

What's happening: Earlier this month, the House of Representatives passed a bill to gradually raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour by October 2025. The proposal would more than double the current national minimum wage of $7.25. That rate hasn’t increased since 2009 — it’s the longest period without a raise since the minimum wage policy was established in 1938. ...

The benefits would be seen across the U.S. economy.

“Higher minimum wages reduce employee turnover costs and increase worker productivity. They raise consumer demand...

Op-Ed By Ashraf Hijaz, Owner, Beauty & Beyond
... Lawmakers aren’t doing businesses any favors by keeping the [federal] minimum wage at $7.25 and keeping more money out of the hands of our customers. ...

By Christine Temple
Springfield Business Journal, July 22, 2019

Supporting the statewide minimum wage hike last November was a no-brainer for Bambino’s Cafe and B2 Cafe co-owner Andy Faucett.

“It was a very popular issue with the people who work at Bambino’s and the people who support Bambino’s,” he said. “I feel like you’re kind of putting money in the pocket of people who spend money.”

Faucett was one of 700 business owners across the state – 110 in the Springfield area – who signed on to join the Missouri Business for a Fair Minimum...

By Seth Sandronsky
MultiBriefs, July 19, 2019

On July 18, the majority-Democratic House of Representatives passed the Raise the Wage Act to gradually increase the federal minimum wage, now at $7.25 and unchanged since 2009, to $15 in 2025. Some Republican House members did cross party lines to vote to increase the federal minimum wage. ...

Yet, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage supports increasing the federal minimum wage. One member of this coalition is Margot Dorfman, CEO of the U.S. Women’s Chamber of Commerce.

"Raising the minimum wage to $15 will be a win-win for...

By Lisa Jennings
Supermarket News, July 18, 2019

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Raise the Wage Act that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. ...

Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, representing about 1,000 business owners and organizations, said in a statement, “Today’s vote to pass the Raise the Wage Act is a vital step forward. A $7.25 minimum wage is too little to live on, and that’s bad for business as well as workers. Consumer spending drives our economy and raising the...

By Lisa Jennings
Nation's Restaurant News, July 18, 2019

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed the Raise the Wage Act that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025. ...

Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, representing about 1,000 business owners and organizations, said in a statement, “Today’s vote to pass the Raise the Wage Act is a vital step forward. A $7.25 minimum wage is too little to live on, and that’s bad for business as well as workers. Consumer spending drives our economy and raising...

By Joanna Fantozzi
Restaurant Hospitality, July 12, 2019

... “What motivates our employers all over the country is that it’s bad for business when working people can’t afford the basics,” Alissa Barron-Menza, vice president of business advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, said.

“When minimum wages are worth less in spending power than they were in 1950, then more people will work more hours and jobs just to get by. Businesses need customers who have money to spend, and when you raise the minimum wage, they can do that. That boost in spending is...

By Melaina Juntti
Supermarket News, July 10, 2019

Nobody’s going to get rich working at a natural products store. ... But at the same time, the cost of living keeps climbing and your staff have bills to pay and families to raise. For many of these employees starting at the federal or state minimum wage — or close to it — just won’t cut it. To make things work they will require at least a living wage.

Additionally, when employees feel more financially secure they are often less stressed and can perform their jobs better. They may also be motivated...

Op-Ed By Michael Lastoria, Co-founder and CEO, &pizza
This month, workers earning the minimum wage in Washington, D.C. got a 75-cent increase to their hourly wage, going from $13.25 to $14, and they’ll get to $15 next year. It’s an increase that’s long overdue. I say that as a business owner....

Op-Ed By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
There are a lot of records that would be great to break. This isn’t one of them: June 16 marks the longest period in history without an increase since the federal minimum wage was established in 1938. ...

By Eillie Anzilotti
Fast Company, June 17, 2019

Nine years, 10 months, three weeks, and three days. That’s exactly how long, as of June 16, it’s been since the federal minimum wage last budged. It’s a new record for the amount of time the minimum wage has been stagnant, edging out the last dry spell, which lasted from September 1997 to July 2007.

When the federal minimum wage was last raised in 2009, it went up to its current threshold of $7.25 an hour (adjusted for inflation, it’s now worth less than it was in 1950)...