By Joyce M. Rosenberg
Associated Press (AP), Jan 15, 2014

NEW YORK (AP) ... The minimum wage will be debated across the country. In 2013, bills to raise the minimum wage were introduced in more than 30 states and Washington, D.C. Lawmakers in four states including California, Connecticut, New York and Rhode Island approved increases.

States where a minimum-wage hike has the best chance of approval include Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota ... according to Holly Sklar, director of the advocacy group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. But states whose neighbors have higher minimums may...

By Timothy B. Wheeler
Baltimore Sun, January 14, 2014

Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Tuesday that he will push for raising the minimum wage in Maryland to $10.10 an hour over the next two years, with automatic increases after that to keep pace with inflation. O'Malley appeared at an evening rally outside the State House, which drew hundreds of union members, clergy, business owners and others who support a higher minimum wage. ...

Raising the minimum wage is expected to be one of the most significant issues to be debated in Annapolis this legislative session. The...

By Roz Plater
ABC 7/WJLA TV Maryland, Jan 14, 2014

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJLA) In Annapolis, Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is kicking off a campaign to raise the statewide minimum wage. On Tuesday, advocates of the hike rallied lawmakers on their own turf in order to benefit workers like Cassandra King -- a single mom and hotel worker. "After I pay the rent...you have no money left over," she says. ...

"It's not a job killer, it doesn't hurt my business, it helps my business tremendously... I don't lose people because they found a better job...

Op-Ed By Dean Cycon
Taunton Daily Gazette, January 13. 2014

We've all heard the arguments against raising the minimum wage: It's bad for business and will result in higher unemployment.

I'm in the coffee business, and those arguments don't amount to a hill of beans.

Let's start with the idea that paying people more than the current minimum hourly wage of $8 in Massachusetts is bad for business. On the contrary. Most successful, thriving businesses, including mine, pay well above $8. The entry-level starting wage at Dean's Beans is $12 per hour. We raise employees...

By Jean Marbella
The Baltimore Sun, January 11, 2014

... Whether Maryland should raise its minimum wage above the current federal floor of $7.25 an hour is an issue that promises to dominate the legislative session that began last week in Annapolis — and have major implications for employers and employees alike. ...

Raise Maryland's proposal would gradually increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016, and would increase the rate for tipped workers to 70 percent of that. The group will hold a rally to launch its legislative battle on Tuesday on...

By Kelcie Pegher
Carroll County Times, January 5, 2014

Politicians in Maryland ready for the January legislative session are preparing for one fight in particular: the battle over whether to raise the minimum wage.

While the minimum wage has remained at $7.25 per hour since 2009, support is growing for a higher minimum wage. In Maryland, two counties voted to bring the minimum wage up to $11.50 per hour by 2017.
...

It’s easy to think of how difficult raising the minimum wage would be for one business, said Richard Torgerson, a registered principal for...

Op-Ed by Tom Dretler and Kip Hollister
Boston Herald, Dec 28, 2013

For the future of Massachusetts, the move by state Senate President Therese Murray (D-Plymouth) to hike the minimum wage to $11 per hour comes not a moment too soon.

As business executives and owners, we are sensitive to every factor that influences our ability to grow our businesses. No matter what some may claim, it’s horrifically shortsighted, as well as bad for business, to pay for work at a minimum wage that is far too low. When society sets the minimum price of...

By Annie Lowrey
New York Times, December 17, 2013

About 20 years ago, in the midst of a recession, New Jersey decided to boost its minimum wage to $5.05 an hour from $4.25. Its neighbor to the west, Pennsylvania, chose not to tinker with its wage floor. Two bright young economists at Princeton, David Card and Alan B. Krueger, recognized in that dull occurrence a promising natural experiment. The two found fast-food joints along the New Jersey-Pennsylvania border, and surveyed them twice over the course of 11 months about how many people they employed. They...

By Sarah E. Needleman and Daniel Lippman
Wall Street Journal, Dec. 12, 2013

... Officials in SeaTac, which is 10 square miles nestled between Seattle and Tacoma and consists of an airport and its surroundings, confirmed this month that it will raise the minimum wage for many workers to $15 an hour starting in January. ... Elsewhere in Washington state, employers already pay $9.19 an hour, the highest state minimum wage in the country, and that amount will rise 13 cents next month. In January, Oregon's hourly minimum will climb to $9.10, New York's to $8 and...

Letter to the Editor by Joseph Rotella
Boston Globe, Dec 5, 2013

As a small-business owner with around 10 employees, I am working hard every day to survive in the current economic climate. Yet I strongly support raising the minimum wage precisely because our economy should be about making sure every available job pays a livable wage. It should not be about large corporations being concerned only with their bottom line.

Providing goods and services and making a profit, while still providing for the welfare of employees, is how I operate, and it should be...

By Kate Taylor
Entrepreneur, Dec 3, 2013. Also Reuters, other outlets

... Business owners in general are divided on raising the minimum wage. A November Gallup poll found that small-business owners were split nearly 50-50 on raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour from the current $7.25. ...

For franchise owners, there's a fine line between what they might like to pay their employees and what they realistically can pay without damaging profits. At the same time, they have to pay competitively enough so that they aren't constantly wasting money hiring and training employees...

By Dean Cycon
Special to the Worcester Business Journal, Nov 25, 2013 

We've all heard the arguments against raising the minimum wage: It's bad for business and will result in higher unemployment.

I'm in the coffee business, and those arguments don't amount to a hill of beans.

Let's start with the idea that paying people more than the current minimum hourly wage of $8 in Massachusetts is bad for business. On the contrary. Most successful, thriving businesses, including mine, pay well above $8. The entry-level starting wage at Dean's Beans is $12 per hour. We...

By Patrick Clark
Bloomberg Business Week, Nov 21, 2013

... Almost half of small business owners support a hike [in the minimum wage], according to a new survey of about 600 owners published today by Wells Fargo (WFC) and Gallup.

Among the findings: Forty-seven percent of respondents, most of whom generate less than $2 million in annual revenue, said they would approve of a law setting the minimum wage at $9.50....

After President Obama proposed raising the minimum wage to $9 from its current $7.25 by 2015, we reported on the increasing support for a...