Small Business Owners Urge Minimum Wage Increase As July 24 Marks Three Years Without Raise
Contact: Bob Keener, bobkeener@businessforsharedprosperity.org, 617-610-6766
With Tuesday, July 24, the anniversary of the last federal minimum wage increase in 2009, small business owners say another raise would be good for business and our economy. At $7.25 an hour, the current minimum wage comes to just $15,080 a year for full-time work. Today’s minimum wage workers have far less buying power than their counterparts did in 1968 when the minimum wage was at its highest value of $10.55 adjusted for inflation. There are proposals in Congress to raise the minimum wage to $9.80 by 2014 in three modest annual steps and then adjust it for the cost of living. Business for a Fair Minimum Wage members supported the last increase in the minimum wage and believe another raise is overdue.