ISSUE BRIEF
2017 Small Business Congress | Health & Human Resources Committee
Minimum Wage
NSBA opposes raising the federal minimum wage
Problem: Lawmakers’ well-intended efforts to increase the federal minimum wage will cause a hardship for many small firms, particularly those in highly competitive industries, and could lead to layoffs and stalled small-business growth. Legislation has been offered that would increase the federal minimum wage to $15.00 per hour and tie it to the Consumer Price Index which would amount in annual increases Minimum wage increases will exert upward pressure on all employees’ pay requiring an increase in overall prices President Obama issued an Executive Order increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 for workers on federal contracts President Obama’s Executive Order makes small firms who operate in both the federal and private marketplace less competitive since many of their counterparts may not be federal contractors Most small businesses that do pay minimum wage are typically in highly-competitive industries with low profit margins According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), only five percent of workers in the U.S. are paid the federal minimum wage or below, and of that, the majority are young workers not supporting families BLS also states that, among employed teenagers paid by the hour, about 23 percent earned the minimum wage or less, compared with about 3 percent of workers age 25 and over
Solution: Resist significant increases to the minimum wage. The recent economic recession and high unemployment rates should deter lawmakers from increasing the federal minimum wage and threatening the delicate and marginal economic growth the nation has observed in recent months.
Learn More: Download NSBA’s 2013 Workforce & Immigration Survey
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