By Sam Harnett
Marketplace, February 17, 2017

CEO Bill Phelps says his thoughts on minimum wage have evolved. In 1994, Phelps co-founded the fast food chain Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has almost a hundred outlets in California. ...

The state increased the minimum wage in mid-2014 and raised it again Jan. 1 on its path to reach $15 per hour by 2022.

Phelps worried increasing wages for his employees would cut into profits and that if he raised prices to compensate, fewer people would come eat and sales would drop. But something else happened entirely. Sales at his California stores...

By Matthew Steecker
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Feb. 16, 2017

... The minimum wage is currently set at $9.70 in Upstate New York. In New York City, minimum wage is currently at $11 for employees of businesses with 11 or more employees and $10.50 for businesses with 10 or less employees. The minimum wage for workers in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties is $10. The minimum wage will reach $15 at the end of 2018 for employees of New York City businesses with 11 or more employees, the end of 2019 for employees of New York City...

When working people make more money, they spend that money—and businesses hire more working people to meet increased demand

By Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York City
The Daily Beast, February 15, 2017

Families across America are struggling to make ends meet. Many workers cannot survive without two or even three jobs. Meanwhile, CEOs are taking home sickening amounts of money. It’s happening all over, but if you want especially egregious examples, look no further than the fast-food industry.

That’s why all of us should be deeply disturbed by President Trump’s choice for secretary of...

By Matthew Steecker
Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Feb. 10, 2017

... The minimum wage is currently set at $9.70 in Upstate New York. In New York City, minimum wage is currently at $11 for employees of businesses with 11 or more employees and $10.50 for businesses with 10 or less employees. The minimum wage for workers in Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties is $10. The minimum wage will reach $15 at the end of 2018 for employees of New York City businesses with 11 or more employees, the end of 2019 for employees of New York...

By Matt Maisel
Fox 43 (PA), January 24, 2017

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Fighting to raise the minimum wage [currently $7.25] is a battle state representative Patty Kim has lost for the last few years. ... With new leadership in 2017, Rep. Kim is hoping this legislative session brings an open look into bringing Pennsylvania's first wage hike since 2009. ... 

Pennsylvania started the process of raising the minimum wage in 2016, when Governor Tom Wolf raised the minimum wage to $10.15 for state employees and state-contracted workers. When that happened, John Traynor, the owner of...

By Sam Harnett
KQED, January 13, 2017

Are minimum wage increases good for the economy on the whole or bad? ...

A new study by UC Berkeley’s Institute for Research on Labor and Employment crunches the numbers for a bunch of these factors to try to predict the impacts of California’s rising minimum wage, which will gradually increase to $15 per hour over the next six years. The study’s authors came to two major conclusions: The state’s higher wages will lead to large increases in pay for workers, and they will not result in major job losses...

Op-Ed By Todd Gloria
San Diego Union Tribune, Jan 12, 2017

... Almost two-thirds of San Diego voters supported a minimum-wage increase. And, more than 250,000 of our fellow San Diegans received a boost in pay. 

This decision by the voters demonstrated a recognition that decent wages foster stronger community and economy. Further, this decision publicly documented — by virtue of the ballot box — the overwhelming majority belief that no person who works full time should be forced to live in poverty. So, if any mandate was levied, it came from the residents of...

By Erik Sherman
Forbes, Jan 7, 2017

Someone I know had posted a link about a fast food CEO who said that higher business growth followed minimum wage hikes in California. According to KQED, Bill Phelps, chief executive of Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has more than 100 outlets in the state, was "shocked" when business rose after a wage increase.

"My overall sales were something like 15 percent ahead after the first minimum wage bump, and now they’re about 12 percent ahead this year," [Franchisee] Jacobs said. "It isn’t because I’m such a great manager or smart guy, but the buying public has more money in their pocket."

By Christopher S. Rugaber
Associated Press (AP), Jan 6, 2017

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans' paychecks rose in December at the fastest pace in more than seven years as steady hiring and low unemployment led some businesses to pay more to attract and keep workers. Employers added 156,000 jobs, a decent total that shows that moderate hiring remains sustainable 7½ years after the recovery from the Great Recession began. ...

The figures also reflect the job market's vast improvement from the deep layoffs and surging unemployment rate that prevailed when Obama took office in January 2009...

By Hadas Kuznits
CBS Philly, January 6, 2017

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — With little hope of the state government raising the minimum wage, one local business owner has taken matters into his own hands.

Ken Weinstein is owner of Trolley Car Diner and Trolley Car Cafe. This week, he independently launched the Wage Change Campaign, which asks business owners to voluntarily raise the minimum wage to eight dollars this year, and an additional dollar each year until it reaches eleven dollars in the year 2020.

“I started this campaign asking four other restaurant owners who own a total of ten restaurants to join me...

By J. Adrian Stanley
Colorado Springs Independent, Jan 4, 2016

The best present for many Colorado workers didn't show up under the Christmas tree — instead it will appear on their first paycheck of 2017. ...

Richard Skorman, owner of the Poor Richard's complex of restaurants and stores in north downtown, says he already pays his workers more than minimum wage, and he thinks most small business owners do the same. It's chains, he says, that usually pay minimum wage, and forcing them to pay workers more is likely to make small businesses like his more...

Politico, Jan 4, 2017
By Carla Marinucci and David Siders

... “Fast Food CEO didn’t believe it, but now he’s seen it - higher minimum wage boosts business,” via KQED’s The California Report: Bill Phelps “is now convinced minimum wage increases aren’t bad for the fast food business; in fact, he says, they’re great. Phelps said you can see why if you visit the Wetzel’s Pretzels franchise in Concord’s Sunvalley Shopping Center.” http://bit.ly/2j6BOy6 ...

Read more

By Sam Harnett
KQED (NPR), Jan 3, 2017

When California began raising its minimum wage two years ago, Bill Phelps wasn’t happy. Phelps is CEO of a fast food company called Wetzel’s Pretzels, which has almost 100 outlets in California. ... But something else happened entirely. Sales at his California stores immediately shot up.

“I was shocked,” Phelps says. “I was stunned by the business.”

The same exact pattern took place again in 2016, when the minimum wage rose again, Phelps said. There was a wage increase, and then boom, a bump in same-store sales across the...

By Michael Kanter
U.S. Department of Labor Blog, Jan. 3, 2017

Editor's note: The following guest post is by Michael Kanter, the co-founder and chief visionary officer of Cambridge Naturals,a community natural health and wellness store in Massachusetts.

As of Dec. 19, 2016, we at Cambridge Naturals raised our starting hourly wage from $13 to $15.

This is a decision that has been several years in the making. I have been actively involved in the federal and state campaigns to raise the minimum wage. As a  member of Business for a Fair Minimum Wage...