By L. Kim Tan
Boston Globe, Dec 29, 2019

What can you buy for 75 cents – the boost in Massachusetts’ minimum hourly wage that takes effect Wednesday? ... over a working day the difference between the 2019 minimum of $12 an hour and 2020’s $12.75 is enough to pay for a nutritious lunch.

Raising the minimum wage is a big deal.

People generally agree workers should be paid a decent wage, but what’s reasonable is subject to interpretation. A statutory minimum sets the standard, or at least the floor, and many employers support it. “Massachusetts is ringing in...

By Shira Schoenberg
Springfield Republican / MassLive, Dec 28, 2019

The Massachusetts minimum wage will increase from $12 to $12.75 an hour on Jan. 1, a step toward raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2023. The Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center estimates that 420,600 workers will get a raise under the new law, many of them working in food service and retail. ...

But some business owners say they want to pay their workers a living wage.

David Starr is founder and managing partner of Berkshire Natural in Northampton, which distributes healthy snacks to...

By Ron Johnson
KQTV2 (ABC), Dec 27, 2019

(ST. JOSEPH, Mo.) ...In 2020, Missouri’s minimum wage will rise from $8.60/hr to $ 9.45/hr. In downtown St. Joseph, many shared their opinion on the changes, they said the rise is a step in the right direction to balancing wages with the rising cost of living. ...

Those who own small businesses downtown also expressed support for the wage increase.

"We’re strong supporters of treating our employees fairly," Andrew Montee, owner Mokaska Coffee Co. said. "People who work hard should be paid fairly and accordingly,"

Montee added...

MetroWest Daily News (MA), Dec 27, 2019. Also in Milford Daily News and many other papers

Massachusetts will start the new year with a minimum wage raise along with 20 other states. The Massachusetts minimum increases to $12.75 on Jan. 1 and then increases by 75 cents a year to reach $15 in 2023. Area business leaders say that raising the minimum wage increases consumer buying power, fosters a more stable and productive workforce, and strengthens businesses and communities. These supporters include Megan Driscoll, founder of PharmaLogics Recruiting; Dan Rosenberg, founder of Real Pickles; Michael...

Ben Werschkul
Yahoo Finance, Dec 27, 2019

Twenty-one states are increasing their minimum wage for the new year with workers from Arizona to Vermont set to see an increase.

As Keith Mestrich, CEO of Amalgamated Bank and a fan of the wage hike noted on Yahoo Finance’s YFi PM, “It's going to be a really happy holiday for a lot of people around the country.” ...

As Amalgamated Bank’s Mestrich says, “The economy's been on fire now for a very, very long time. But many of the rewards have really gone to the people at...

Yahoo Finance, Dec 26, 2019

Over 20 states are gearing up to hike the raise minimum wage in 2020, but one bank is already ahead of the game. Amalgamated Bank CEO and President Keith Mestrich joins Yahoo Finance’s Heidi Chung and Brian Sozzi, along with New York Post Finance Reporter Thornton McEnery to discuss why the company has raised its minimum hourly wage on YFi PM.

WATCH VIDEO

By John Unrein
Bake Magazine, Dec 26, 2019

Twenty-one states are kicking off the new year by raising their minimum wage, and certain business owners are speaking out in support. These business leaders say the increases taking effect on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1 will boost consumer spending, reduce costly employee turnover, increase productivity and customer satisfaction, and strengthen local economies. ...

Thousands of business owners and executives have signed Business for a Fair Minimum Wage’s statements supporting state and federal increases because they believe a higher wage floor will increase consumer buying power, foster a more stable...

Gasconade County Republican, Dec 26, 2019

Missouri workers making minimum wage will see their pay increase 85 cents an hour to $9.45 beginning Jan. 1, 2020.

Hard-working Missourians will see another wage increase to ring in the new year, according to the Missouri Jobs with Justice organization noting that in 2018 voters from every corner of the state resoundingly voted yes on Proposition B to gradually increase Missouri’s minimum wage from $7.85 an hour to $12 an hour by 2023. ... Proposition B was endorsed by a diverse and bipartisan coalition of workers, faith leaders, elected officials, and...

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." ...

Read more

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...