Urge Your Legislators to Oppose Highest in the Nation Minimum Wage

Urge Your Legislators to Oppose Job-Killing Minimum Wage Increases

The Joint Legislative Committee on Labor and Workforce Development has recommended for passage legislation to hike the minimum wage in Massachusetts (Senate Bill 951). The bill calls for a three-step increase to a $10 minimum wage, giving Massachusetts the highest minimum wage in the nation.

The bill calls for an initial minimum wage increase to $8.75, then $9.50 the following year and reaching $10 after two years.  Thereafter, Massachusetts would index the minimum to inflation while always remaining at least $1.50 above the national minimum wage. Changes would also be made to the wage paid to tipped employees such as restaurant servers.

This is simply not the time to increase the cost of doing business for Massachusetts’ employers.  Businesses are in the midst of surviving one of the longest economic downturns in our history.  Adding to the cost of doing business is not good for job growth and the economic growth generally.     

This will have a direct impact on part-time and seasonal workers and employment for young people.  Higher minimum wages eliminates the first step on the ladder to economic success and makes it more difficult for those trying to enter the job market. Business owners will prefer to employ someone with experience rather than pay a “greener” employee at the higher rate of pay. 

The overwhelming majority of minimum wage workers are young workers and/or workers at a second job.  The very few household breadwinners who earn the minimum wage do not stay at that wage for long.  The minimum wage increase causes employers to raise the pay scale for their entire work force.  In other words, increasing the minimum wage increases the wages of non-minimum wage workers while eliminating the jobs of minimum wage workers.  Setting the Massachusetts minimum wage at a rate above other states would place Massachusetts at a competitive disadvantage, especially for the restaurant and hospitality industry, further exacerbating the job losses.  

We are asking that you contact your legislators and urge them to oppose this proposal as harmful to small businesses and the Massachusetts economy.