By Kelsey Butler
Bloomberg, Dec 7, 2023

... This week, when I wrote about minimum wage increases taking effect across the US on Jan. 1, my LinkedIn comments were flooded with readers saying that the changes would be bad for business owners and drive up prices for consumers. ... It turns out that there are business owners — including executives at Patagonia Inc. and Unilever Plc’s Ben & Jerry's — that actually think higher wages are good business.

Aaron Seyedian is one of them. In 2017, after a career as a consultant, including at the...

By Jeanne Sahadi
CNN, Dec 6, 2023

At the start of the new year, anyone working a minimum wage job will be paid more in 22 states ...

The push for non-poverty wages

The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 since 2009. And 20 states – including Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Alabama and Mississippi – still adhere to it. The push to raise it has gone on for years because minimum wage workers stuck at $7.25 have lost substantial buying power.

Had it just been adjusted for inflation since 2009, it would be $10.33 today. But advocates for a higher minimum wage, including Holly Sklar, CEO of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, would rather ...

By Kelsey Butler
Bloomberg, Dec 5, 2023

Workers in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County will soon be making at least $16 an hour, a dollar more than they do now, as the state joins 21 others in lifting the minimum wage. Increases are set to take effect Jan. 1 from Rhode Island to Nebraska to California ... Washington state will require employers to pay $16.28 an hour, the nation’s highest minimum wage at the state level. ...

The coming pay gains are “a reflection of increases that have passed by legislation, where...

The Buffalo Criterion, Dec 2, 2023
From Business for a Fair Minimum Wage New York Media Release

On Jan. 1, New York’s minimum wage will increase to $16 in New York City, Long Island and Westchester County, and $15 for the rest of the state as the first step under New York’s minimum wage raise passed earlier this year. Business owners across New York are welcoming the minimum wage increases, saying they will boost consumer spending and bolster New York businesses.

New York’s minimum wage will continue to increase by 50 cents a year for...

By Ashley Portero
South Florida Business Journal, September 27, 2023

Florida's minimum wage will increase by one dollar on Sept. 30, nearly three year after residents voted to gradually raise the state's minimum wage until it reaches $15 an hour. ...

"It's great that wages are going up, but now the issue is it won't be enough to keep up with inflation," said Jennifer Todd, CEO of LMS General Contractors in Pompano Beach.

Todd was an early supporter of Amendment 2, a state constitutional amendment passed in 2020. The law raised Florida's minimum wage from...

By Colin A. Young
State House News Service (Massachusetts), September 27, 2023

... A slew of bills dealing with wages — the state minimum wage, the minimum wage for workers who also earn tips, wages for overtime work, and more — was before the Labor and Workforce Development Committee on Tuesday, renewing debate over what people working in Massachusetts should be paid. ...

There were some businesses that told the committee they support efforts to increase the minimum wage, many as part of the national Business for a Fair Minimum Wage coalition.

“Our strong growth...

WBUR (NPR), “All Things Considered,” September 26, 2023
Irina Matchavariani interviewed John Schall

Legislators on Beacon Hill are considering raising the state’s minimum wage. One proposal brought up at a hearing today would hike it from $15 an hour to $20 by the year 2027. John Schall is the founder of El Jefe’s Taqueria in Boston and a member of the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage. He says local businesses will be able to retain their workforce and spend less in the long run. “If you're in a cycle where you're constantly hiring...

By Dana Gerber
Boston Globe, September 26, 2023

On Tuesday, the state’s Joint Committee on Labor and Workforce Development held hearings for bills in both chambers that would gradually raise the Massachusetts minimum wage to $20 an hour by 2027 and subsequently boost it in lockstep with inflation. The bills — presented by Representatives Tram T. Nguyen and Daniel M. Donahue in the House and Senator Jason M. Lewis in the Senate — come after the last in the series of pay hikes secured as part of the 2018 “grand bargain” legislation lifted the minimum...

Special to Lake Okeechobee News
South Central Florida Life, September 25, 2023

Florida’s minimum wage will increase from $11 to $12 an hour on Sept. 30 and business leaders across Florida are welcoming the raise, saying it will boost consumer spending, bolster local businesses and strengthen the economy. Florida’s minimum wage will continue to increase by $1 per year until it reaches $15 in 2026, followed by cost of living increases in subsequent years.

Florida voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2 in 2020 to raise the state minimum wage. Business owners and executives across the state...

By Micaela Hood
Lehigh Valley News, September 13, 2023

... El Jefe's Taqueria of Bethlehem will receive a Milestone Award at the Greater Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce on Friday, Sept. 15. ...

Another prominent business owner, John Schall, of El Jefe's Taqueria, will accept the Milestone Award at the gala.

"One thing that interested us was that 20% of El Jefe's Taqueria [stakeholders] are Latino," Suero [AJ Suero, chair of the Greater Lehigh Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce] said. "We were also impressed with their out-of-the-box thinking during COVID and willingness to stay...

By Hannah Brandt
Nexstar, Aug 8, 2023. Ran on Nexstar stations across the country 8/8 - 8/10 including WFLA (Tampa, FL), WJTV (Jackson, MS), WKRG (Mobile, AL), WFXP & WJET (Erie, PA), KSNW (Wichita, KS), WYTV (Youngstown, OH), KSNF (Joplin, MO), WHBF (Davenport, IA), WCMH (Columbus, OH), KFTA (Fort Smith, AR), KWKT (Waco, TX), WFXB & WBTW (Myrtle Beach, SC), WJBF (Augusta, GA), WFXR (Roanoke, VA), KTAL (Shreveport, LA), and many more.

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — For more than a decade, the federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25. With costs of living rising, some lawmakers are renewing a push to raise...

By Benjamin S. Weiss
Courthouse News Service, July 25, 2023

WASHINGTON (CN) — More than a decade after Congress last raised the federal minimum wage, lawmakers on Tuesday rolled out legislation that, if made law, would significantly increase the legal baseline for pay across the country. Federal minimum wage currently sits at just $7.25 an hour ...

Aaron Seyedian, owner of Well-Paid Maids, a cleaning company that pays its employees a minimum of $23 an hour, said that increased wages were an investment in his staff that has led to higher productivity and lower employee...

By Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams, July 25, 2023

Economic justice advocates applauded Tuesday as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Congressman Bobby Scott formally introduced the Raise the Wage Act of 2023, which would increase the federal hourly minimum wage from $7.25 to $17 by 2028. ...

At a Tuesday press conference to promote the bill, Scott was joined by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Labor Caucus Co-Chair Donald Norcross (D-N.J.), Well-Paid Maids owner Aaron Seyedian, and Frances Holmes, who makes $13 an hour working a seasonal job at a baseball stadium St...

By Isabel Engel
CNBC, July 1, 2023

Minimum wage increases are set to take effect July 1 in Nevada, Oregon, Washington, D.C. and various other cities and counties across the U.S. And for some local business owners, the hikes are a welcome — and much awaited — change.

An increase in minimum wage — and, thus, baseline salaries within local communities — allows businesses to flourish, Gina Schaefer, founder and co-owner of A Few Cool Hardware Stores, tells CNBC Make It. Schaefer owns 13 Ace Hardware stores throughout the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia metropolitan area. 

“We will hopefully...

Associated Press (AP), July 1, 2023

Nevada’s lowest wage workers will see larger paychecks now that the state’s minimum wage increased Saturday. ...

Paul Saginaw, owner of Saginaw’s Delicatessen in Circa Resort, said he’s found that when wages went up, labor costs were kept in check or lowered because they had less turnover, resulting in more experienced staff with better productivity.

“(The) biggest struggle is the cost of goods, not wages,” he said.

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