Resources

By Holly Sklar, CEO, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage

Selection of studies on the impact of wages on employment, turnover, productivity, prices, customer service, spending, health, safety, and more.

New report explains how raising Nebraska's minimum wage will benefit business by boosting consumer spending and reducing employee turnover, which reduces the cost of hiring and training replacement workers. Extensive research demonstrates that raising the minimum wage does not reduce employment - while improving employee retention, productivity and customer service.

We are currently experiencing the longest period without a federal minimum wage increase since it was first enacted in 1938 to help our nation recover from the Great Depression. Business for a Fair Minimum Wage supports raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2025, as called for in the Raise the Wage Act of 2021, using the same federal phase-in timeline for businesses of all sizes.

Restaurant owner perspectives on raising the federal minimum wage to $15 and phasing out the subminimum wage for tipped workers.

SUMMARY: The minimum wage sets the wage floor across Virginia. It’s currently too low to provide a solid floor for businesses, the workforce and the economy. A minimum wage increase should be phased in statewide, as passed by the House in HB 395, raising the rate to $15 by 2025. The amended bill passed in the Senate, SB 7, would introduce needless complexity and growing inequity into minimum wage law by breaking Virginia’s statewide minimum wage into regional minimum wages. ...

Here's a sampler of restaurant owner perspectives on fair minimum wages for all workers, including tipped workers...

June 23, 2015

My name is Bob Olson and I own Olson & Associates, an insurance agency serving Illinois with offices in Lombard and Springfield. I’m also the State General Agent of American Income Life, which covers more than 2 million policyholders in Illinois and around the nation. Raising the minimum wage is an essential step in insuring a more healthy state economy.

With the current minimum wage, workers are paid so little it’s like getting a part-time wage for full-time work. They can’t adequately support their families or be a good customer base for Illinois businesses.

June 23, 2015

My name is Elizabeth Colon, President and Founder of Metaphrasis Language & Cultural Solutions and recipient of the 2014 Illinois Small Business Person of the Year award by the U.S. Small Business Association (SBA). I was also named 2015 Business Owner of the Year by the National Association of Women Business Owners (Chicago).

I strongly support increasing our state minimum wage as it is good for business and good for Illinois. Giving low-income households more money to spend will enable them to make ends meet and will be a direct boost to businesses and our economy.

National executive committee member of the Main Street Alliance small business network and member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage
June 23, 2015

My name is David Borris and I own a 30-year-old catering business with a full-time staff of 31 people and over 90 part-time and seasonal employees. I pay a starting wage of $11.00 an hour – well above the current Illinois minimum wage of $8.25. And my business is thriving.

Paying good wages is part of my recipe for success. Raising the minimum wage is smart policy for Illinois.

Raising the minimum wage is pro-business. A century ago, the great titan of American business Henry Ford doubled his workers’ wages. He did this for two reasons:

61% of small business owners with employees support raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour and adjusting it to keep up with the cost of living in future years, according to a scientific national opinion poll.