Small Businesses Cannot Afford $15/hr Minimum Wage
Congress recently proposed increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and eliminating the tipped wage. This proposal would more than double the federal minimum wage while small businesses are struggling to make it through the pandemic.
Email your legislators and urge them to oppose the Raise the Wage Act of 2021.
Increasing the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour and eliminating the tipped wage would hit small business owners particularly hard. NFIB Research Center estimates that this proposal will reduce employment by 1.6 million jobs by 2029. Businesses with fewer than 500 employees would absorb 900,000 of those job losses, 57% of all jobs lost.
Small businesses, unlike larger businesses, are less likely to have the cash reserves or profit margins to absorb the increase in labor costs. Small business owners must make the difficult decision to either increase the cost of their products, which in many cases is untenable, or reduce labor costs in the form of employees, employee hours, or other employee benefits.
Businesses that currently pay a minimum of $15 per hour may feel pressure from employees to elevate their wages to make up the difference as they are accustomed to making more than the federal minimum.
Help Congress understand how a mandated $15 per hour minimum wage would impact your business, employees, and community. Many legislators have never worked for a small business—they don’t know the real-world impacts this legislation would have on their district/state and the businesses and employees they represent. Tell them.
Be the voice of small business and make your voice heard.
