By Karen E. Klein and Nick Leiber
Bloomberg BusinessWeek, February 21, 2013

President Barack Obama’s recent proposal to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour by the end of 2015 has an unlikely ally: a sizable swath of America’s 6 million small employers....  Now, with public anger over income inequality deepening and economic research challenging the notion that higher wages suppress employment, a growing number of small business advocates support a hike.

That includes dozens of business groups and networks composed primarily of small business owners such as the Main Street...

By Peter Whoriskey
Washington Post, February 21, 2013 

… the White House argues that “modestly” raising the pay rate will not stall the jobs recovery. “A range of economic studies show that modestly raising the minimum wage increases earnings and reduces poverty without jeopardizing employment,” according to the White House press office. ...

At a White House meeting of executives of small and medium-sized business in November that covered a range of economic issues, one advocated for raising the rate.

“I think it’s the ethical thing to do, to come up with a wage that a...

MSNBC, Up with Chris Hayes, Feb 16, 2013

Excerpts (video links below):

Chris Hayes: You actually met with the President along with small business owners. My understanding is that this came up - specifically minimum wage.

Lew Prince, Owner, Vintage Vinyl, St. Louis: Yes. … The President sat down in the room with a dozen small business people. and literally said what can I do for you? The first thing that one of us said, the guy that owns Uncommon Goods in Brooklyn - raise the minimum wage to ten bucks. In unison the other...

By Rick Ungar
Forbes, Feb 16, 2013

... John Mackey, CEO of Whole Foods—a well known libertarian who has been vocal in his opposition to other Obama supported programs such as the Affordable Care Act—sees the benefits of paying above the minimum wage. Reports CBS News, “According to Kate Lowery, head of public relations at Whole Foods, the average non-executive hourly pay is $18.63. Executives there have argued that higher morale, presumably in part because of better pay, leads to higher productivity and lower turnover.”

The same goes for retail giant Costco whose senior...

By Sarah Meehan
Baltimore Business Journal, Feb 15, 2013

As state and federal legislators push to raise the minimum wage, Maryland business owners are split over how that change would impact their bottom lines.

Shortly after state representatives introduced General Assembly proposals to raise the state minimum wage from $7.25 to $10 an hour, President Barack Obama during his State of the Union address announced an initiative to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour.

Backers of the state bill, such as Del. Aisha Braveboy, D-Prince George’s, were pleased that Obama...

Business leaders seem mixed about the president's State of the Union call to raise the federal baseline wage.

By Bruce Kennedy
MSN Money, Feb 13, 2013

The media and blogosphere lit up Tuesday night after President Barack Obama's call for Congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 an hour -- and to tie the minimum wage to the cost of living. ...

... But New York's governor has already proposed a minimum-wage raise in his state, and some business leaders there approve.

"Raising the minimum wage will put more money in...

By Charles Wilbanks, Alain Sherter
CBS News, Feb 13, 2013

(MoneyWatch) In issuing his call for an increase in the minimum wage in Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Obama reignited an old debate: Do such well-meaning efforts actually backfire, resulting in more unemployment and hardship for people at the bottom as businesses adjust their hiring to compensate for higher costs?

Many conservative economists and businesses cite such arguments in opposing mandatory hikes, and a lot of money changes hands lobbying against them -- lobbying that usually succeeds. It's easy to forget, for example...

By Dennis Phillips
Post-Journal (Jamestown, NY), Feb 8, 2013

State and federal chamber of commerce leaders are supporting an increase in New York's minimum wage, and they're not alone. 

On Thursday, Business for a Fair Minimum Wage held a press conference call with business and chamber leaders who support the proposed hike. In January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in his State of the State address a proposition to increase the low-income wage from $7.25 to $8.75. ...  

Margot Dorfman, U.S. Women's Chamber of Commerce chief executive officer, said a wage hike is overdue. She...

By Andrew J. Hawkins
Crain's New York Business, Feb 8, 2014

... Backers of a minimum wage hike are lining up more business supporters for a hike to $8.75 an hour, including Costco and ABC Home. A full list of supporters can be found here. Meanwhile, the Business Council of New York State, which opposes any increase, acknowledged that it is looking for a compromise. 

http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/blogs/insider/2013/02/friday-mash-up-2/#ixzz2KLzlMrId

Host, Liz Benjamin
YNN Capital Tonight, Feb 7, 2013

Minimum wage advocates have some new allies in the business community. A group of business leaders and business owners from around the state have launched a new petition asking for the minimum wage to be brought up to eight-75 an hour. They are also calling for further increases tied to the cost of living, a measure known as indexing. Melanie Beam is the president of Capital District Local First and Britin Foster is the owner of All Good Bakers in Albany talk to Liz about the push.

http://capitaltonightny.ynn.com/2013/02/business-leaders-call-for-minim…

Video

Op-Ed By Darius Ross
Distributed in New York by American Forum, Feb 5, 2013. Known placements include Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin, Rockland County Times, Ithaca Journal, Poughkeepsie Journal, Elmira Star Gazette, Caribbean Life News, more 

When Governor Cuomo called for raising New York’s minimum wage, he expressed not only his own view, but also the convictions of 80 percent of New Yorkers who agree that the state’s lowest-paid workers are in urgent need of a raise. As a business owner, I support the effort to raise the minimum wage because it makes good...

By Shane Richard Bell
North Idaho Business Journal, Jan 29, 2013

... 10 states and two cities officially raised their minimum wages on Jan. 1. Idaho wasn’t one of those states. In fact, Idaho’s state minimum wage matches that of the federal minimum wage at $7.25 an hour. A tipped employee in Idaho makes $3.35 per hour.

Washington and Montana, Idaho’s neighbors, pay their tipped workers more than twice as much per hour than Idaho.

In Montana, for a tipped employee, the minimum wage is $7.80. In Washington, a tipped employee earns $9.04 per hour, and a...

By Emma Beck
USA Today, Jan 29, 2013

Nearly half the states have increased their minimum wage this year or are considering plans to hike it as the economy transitions from recession to a stronger recovery. Thirteen states have weighed wage increases since Jan. 1. Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Hawaii are among the most recent. ... In nine other states, automatic wage hikes took effect, adding 10 to 35 cents per hour to state minimum wages. In a 10th state, an increase approved by the Rhode Island Legislature last June raised the state's minimum from...

By Michael Gormley
Associated Press, Jan 24, 2013

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York state legislators on Wednesday began privately discussing a new way to increase the state's minimum wage after Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave the long-blocked effort a big boost in his proposed budget.

Cuomo on Tuesday proposed to increase the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8.75. He didn't, however, include a provision from the Assembly's proposal that would index the wage to inflation to create automatic increases. That worried advocates for the working poor who say the buying power of a...

By Kate Havard
Washington Post, January 23, 2013

On Tuesday, Maryland lawmakers and activists launched “Raise Maryland,” an effort to raise the state’s minumum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10 per hour by 2015.

“We like to say we live in the wealthiest state in America,” said Del. Aisha Braveboy (D-Prince George’s County) “Well, how much do you think it costs to live in the wealthiest state in America?” More than the minimum wage earner can afford, she said.

"When the minimum wage was at its greatest value it was 45 years ago in 1968,”...