As business leaders, we support gradually raising Florida’s minimum wage to $15 by September 2026. Today, grocery workers, healthcare aides, cleaning staff, childcare workers and other Floridians are working at the $8.56 minimum wage or near it. We can’t build a shared recovery on a minimum wage that’s too low to live on.

Workers are also customers. Raising the minimum wage puts money in the pockets of people who most need to spend it. It boosts the consumer buying power that businesses depend on to survive and grow – a purpose of the minimum wage since it was first enacted to help us recover from the Great Depression.

Raising the minimum wage is good business. Low pay typically means high employee turnover. Raising the minimum wage pays off in lower turnover, reduced hiring and training costs, lower error rates, increased productivity and better customer service. Employees often make the difference between repeat customers or lost customers.

We support Amendment 2, gradually increasing the minimum wage from $8.56 to $10 per hour effective Sept. 30, 2021 and then by $1 each year until it reaches $15 on Sept. 30, 2026, followed by annual adjustments to keep pace with the cost of living starting in 2027.