Biz New Orleans, May 4, 2016

NEW ORLEANS – The business owners named by the U.S. Small Business Administration as Louisiana and Maine’s 2016 Small Business People of the Year are calling on lawmakers to increase the federal minimum wage to at least $12 by 2020.

According to Angela O’Byrne, Louisiana’s 2016 Small Business Person of the Year and first runner up for National Small Business Person of the Year, and Margo Walsh, Maine’s 2016 Small Business Person of the Year, many lawmakers aren’t listening to what entrepreneurs really want out of Washington—policies that will...

Greater Baton Rouge Business Report, May 4, 2016

Higher pay: Angela O’Byrne, Louisiana’s Small Business Person of the Year, is calling on U.S. policymakers to increase the federal minimum wage to at least $12 by 2020. In a statement, O’Byrne, who is also a runner-up for the National Small Business Person of the Year, says the federal minimum wage has been stagnant for far too long. “Miring full-time workers in poverty makes absolutely no sense from a business perspective,” says O’Byrne, who is president and CEO of the New Orleans-based Perez, APC. “Paying fair wages boosts...

NPR & WBUR, Here & Now, May 4, 2016

Last year, Seattle began phasing in a minimum wage of $15 an hour. Businesses with more than 500 employees will pay that wage by 2018. Smaller companies have until 2021 to comply, but some entrepreneurs are embracing the call for a higher minimum wage ahead of schedule. One of them is Renee Erickson, a Seattle chef, who this week won the 2016 James Beard Award as the best chef in the Northwest. She employs 100 people at her restaurant group. Erickson speaks with Here & Now’...

By Eleanor Kennedy
Nashville Business Journal, April 29, 2016

LetterLogic founder and CEO Sherry Stewart Deutschmann has long been a vocal advocate of increasing the federal minimum wage. But this week she made the pitch to a new audience for her: members of the U.S. House of Representatives. ... Deutschmann was one of three entrepreneurs who, along with an analyst from the Economic Policy Institute, addressed Democratic members of the education and workforce committee in a forum on April 27. ... 

[Deutschmann spoke] to "the business perspective of increasing minimum [the] wage," during this week's forum. When she increased employees' starting...

Letter to the Editor By Jack Kinstlinger
Baltimore Sun, April 25, 2016

Commentator Stephen J.K. Walters claims that the proposal by City Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke to hike Baltimore's minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 would put another nail in the city's economic coffin ("A well-intentioned nail in Baltimore's economic coffin," April 19).

I disagree. Mr. Walters cites an obscure Princeton study dating from the 1990s. But why use a single outdated study as evidence when real life experiences are all around us? And they certainly do not support his position.

San Francisco, Calif...

By Robb Mandelbaum
Forbes, April 24, 2016

...  LuntzGlobal, a communications firm founded by über-GOP pollster Frank Luntz surveyed 1,000 top executives (nearly half were owners) and found that they supported raising the minimum wage 79% - 8%. ...

LuntzGlobal delivered this news in a January webinar to the cohort of Americans perhaps least likely to welcome it: executives from state chambers of commerce. The news evidently took many of the participants by surprise. “When you were talking about raising the minimum wage to the surveyors, does that mean that they are worried about raising...

By Katie Little
CNBC, April 22,  2016

Work two hours at the $7.25 federal minimum wage, and you still wouldn't make the lowest hourly wage at Earth Friendly Products.

It's been two years since the California-based company decided to hike its lowest rate to $17 on Earth Day — a move it says has cut voluntary turnover by nearly 50 percent. Right away, it saw productivity and morale increase — improvements that offset the higher wage. Revenue has also jumped, which has helped balance out the larger labor costs. About half of workers still make this $17...

By Ryan M. McDermott
Washington Times - Wednesday, April 20, 2016

... The Democratic mayor has proposed raising the minimum wage for tipped workers from the current $2.77 an hour to $7.50 an hour by 2022. She also has proposed to raise the minimum wage for all other D.C. workers to $15 an hour by 2020. The current wage minimum is $10.50 an hour and is set to rise to $11.50 on [July 1]. Ms. Bowser presented her wage legislation Tuesday to the D.C. Council, saying it strikes a balance between protecting tipped workers and maintaining the tipping system...

Letter to the Editor by Karen and Colin Archipley
San Diego Union Tribune, April 15, 2016

Regarding “Minimum wage policies bad for business in California” (April 1): Since being signed into law, we’ve read a lot of doom and gloom predictions about California’s $15 minimum wage. The North San Diego Business Chamber president wrote an editorial saying it will put businesses at a disadvantage.

We wholeheartedly disagree. When our workers — many of them veterans — have enough money to take care of themselves and their families, they’re more productive, we have less turnover and we...

By Karen Robes Meeks
Los Angeles Times Weekend, April 15, 2016

As Kelly Vlahakis-Hanks toured Earth Friendly Products' new headquarters in Cypress [CA], the company president and chief executive couldn't help but think of her father, Van Vlahakis, who died two years ago. Vlahakis, a Greek chemist who launched the family business out of his garage in Chicago in 1967, would have been proud of the platinum-rated Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification of the building, which features low VOC (volatile organic compound) paint, bamboo flooring, solar carports where electric vehicles can be recharged, energy-efficient...

By Joyce Rosenberg
Associated Press, April 13, 2016

NEW YORK (AP) — In the aftermath of California and New York becoming the first states to raise the statewide minimum wage to $15, some small businesses with hourly workers are rethinking how they can absorb the increase. ... California and Massachusetts have the highest statewide minimum wages at $10. California and New York this month became the first states to pass laws mandating that a statewide $15 minimum be phased in over the next few years. ...

Nearly three-quarters of U.S. workers paid at or below the...

By Laura Goldman
Letter to the Editor, Bohemian, April 13, 2016

The recently passed $15 minimum wage (Debriefer, April 6) will help, not harm, small businesses and Sonoma County's economic health. For over 30 years, my husband and I have owned and operated a local business, and we pay all employees a living—not minimum—wage. Paying a living wage is more than good business; it's the right thing to do, for our staff, our community and our local economy. And when the economy thrives, so does our business. We invest in our employees and they in...

By Kitty McConnell
Manta, April 8, 2016

... Despite the opposition put forth by big business groups and chambers of commerce, a new Manta poll shows a majority of small business owners actually support higher minimum wages for workers. In fact, many small business owners already pay their employees more than is required by law.

Manta’s poll reveals that 59% of small business owners are in favor of a higher minimum wage. The same percentage of small business owners said they are “more likely to vote for a state or national candidate who supports a minimum...

A leaked GOP pollster's report dismantles the perception that businesses oppose raising the minimum wage.

By David Brodwin
US News & World Report, April 8, 2016

Efforts to boost the minimum wage made real progress this week. California just approved an increase to $15 an hour by 2022, with New York close behind. This more than doubles the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. ...

Large national business organizations have strenuously opposed raising the minimum wage. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce couches its opposition in worker-friendly terms, saying that "minimum wage increases end up hurting the...

If sharing economy companies can make it work, what about California and New York?

By Heesun Wee
CNBC, April 5, 2016

As more states move to lift the minimum wage, a small crop of businesses has surprisingly emerged as supporters of higher mandated pay and worker benefits — sharing economy companies. Start-ups in the on-demand space, which by and large recruit 1099 contractors, are opting instead to hire W-2 employees and offer perks including wages well above the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour — plus benefits such as health care.

Boston-based Bridj (pronounced "bridge") is an on-demand...