Minimum Wage Hike Goes to State Senate

Contact your State Senator today to stop SB 387

A proposal to increase Connecticut’s minimum wage by $1.50 over the next two years–and then automatically increase it every year after based on the Consumer Price Index is now in the State Senate, which could vote on SB 387 at any time.

This despite the facts that:

• 85% of studies conducted in the last 20 years show that increasing the minimum wage leads to job losses
• The vast majority of workers on minimum wage are teens living at home with their parents, or people working to supplement another income.
• According to the U.S. government, the majority of CT’s poorest residents are not in the workforce – meaning an increase in the minimum wage can’t help them. (Census Bureau and Bureau of Labor Statistics)
• The first thing businesses are forced to cut when labor costs increase are entry-level positions –which denies our teens the valuable skills they can learn in first work experiences.

The best way to help individuals in entry-level and low-skill jobs is to stop adding costs to employers and instead encourage more hiring and more opportunity for employee advancement.

Connecticut employers are struggling enough as it is; a minimum wage hike will only make it harder for them to be able to operate.

The road to prolonged high unemployment is paved with good intentions: While the desire to put more money in the pocket of the state’s poorest residents is well-intended, this bill will create the opposite effect.

SB 387 increases the minimum wage from $8.25 to $9 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2014, raises it again to $9.75 per hour beginning Jan. 1, 2015, and links future raises to the consumer price index beginning Jan. 1, 2016.

Contact your state Senator today and urge him or her to reject SB 387 as too costly for Connecticut.

For more information, contact CBIA’s Eric Gjede at 860.244.1931 or eric.gjede@cbia.com.