By Aimee Picchi
CBS MoneyWatch, July 11, 2014
When it comes to raising the minimum wage, employees aren't the only ones who want a boost - small-business owners want it as well.
Sixty-one percent of small-business owners with employees say they support increasing the baseline wage in three stages over two-and-a-half years and adjusting it after that to keep pace with increases in the cost of living. That's a finding in a new study from the American Sustainable Business Council and Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. ...
Most said boosting it would increase consumer purchasing power and help the economy, the poll found. And for their own businesses, they said they expected less turnover and better productivity.
Forty-three percent of the respondents identified themselves as Republican, while only 28 percent said they were Democrats. Another 19 percent identified as independent. ...
Small business backing for a higher minimum wage varied slightly by region, with owners in the Northeast expressing the strongest support, at 67 percent. About 61 percent of those in the Midwest were in support and 60 percent in the West. Small-business owners in the South showed the least backing, at 58 percent, but still a majority think it's a good move.
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