Minimum Wage Increase Will Cost PA Jobs

Minimum Wage Increase Will Cost PA Jobs
Independent Fiscal Office Report Confirms It

HARRISBURG (February 10, 2016) – The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) reacted to Gov. Tom Wolf’s call for a $10.15 minimum wage explaining that a number of its business members will be forced to eliminate jobs because they simply don’t have the money to increase wages for inexperienced, entry level employees. Late last year the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) concluded that an increase in the state’s minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would result in a loss of 31,000 jobs in Pennsylvania. The full IFO report can be accessed here.

"The IFO report confirms what we already know – Raising the mandatory wage for entry level workers would be a job killer in Pennsylvania and would be especially harmful to people now clinging to the lowest rung of Pennsylvania’s economic ladder," said Neal Lesher, legislative director of NIFB Pennsylvania. "Raising the minimum wage makes a great sound-bite but it hurts exactly the workers whom the advocates pretend to be helping."

The results of the IFO study also confirm a NFIB study from last year on the potential effect a minimum wage hike in Pennsylvania. The report, which was based on similar proposals, used a widely respected regional economic model which forecasted job losses ranging between 28,000 and 119,000 over a ten year period.

"Like most government mandates on business, raising the minimum wage will have a deep and disproportionate impact on the small-business sector because small businesses tend to rely more heavily on entry-level, part-time workers and they are least able to absorb such a dramatic increase in their labor costs," said Lesher.

"Those most disadvantaged by increasing the minimum wage are teenagers and the unemployed. You can’t develop a career if you can’t get your first job. Increasing the minimum wage prices low skill workers out of the job market, particularly youth, robbing them of the experience of a first job where basic job skills are often learned," Lesher continued. "Numerous studies have shown the negative impact that higher wage floors have on teen employment."

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NFIB is the nation’s leading small business association, with offices in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals. Founded in 1943 as a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization, NFIB gives small and independent business owners a voice in shaping the public policy issues that affect their business. NFIB’s powerful network of grassroots activists sends their views directly to state and federal lawmakers through our unique member-only ballot, thus playing a critical role n supporting America’s free enterprise system. NFIB’s mission is to promote and protect the right of our members to own, operate and grow their businesses. More information is available online at www.NFIB.com/newsroom.