By Tim Gallen
Phoenix Business Journal, April 24, 2013
Contrary to the prevailing popular opinion, small businesses overwhelmingly favor an increase to the federal minimum wage because it will help boost business and the economy, according to a national poll released by Small Business Majority.
Two out of three small business owners support bumping the federal minimum wage from its current level of $7.25 and adjusting it annually to keep pace with the cost of living, the poll showed. Such results are striking, considering that respondents are employers themselves and predominantly Republican.
About 65 percent of respondents agreed that increasing the minimum wage would help the economy because lower income workers are most likely to spend pay increases buying necessities they could not afford before. Also, 65 percent of business owners said a higher minimum wage would decrease pressure on publicly funded government assistance programs to make up for low wages paid by some employers. ...
“As this poll makes crystal clear, the oft-heard claims that most small business owners oppose a minimum wage increase are wrong,” said Holly Sklar, director of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, a group focused on increasing the federal minimum wage. “Most small business owners, like the general public, want to raise the minimum wage. The minimum wage would be over $10 if it had kept up with the rising cost of living since the 1960s instead of falling behind.” ...
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