Thursday, September 1, 2016

Lesniak: Minimum Wage Facts & Fiction






For Immediate Release
September 1, 2016

Governor Christie vetoed our legislation increasing New Jersey's $8.38 minimum wage to $10.10 next year and to $15 by 2020 - saying it would hurt small businesses and our economy. That's the fiction.

In the mid-sixties in a booming economy, the equivalent minimum wage today would be $12.00. That's the fact.

Indeed, in Australia, where the minimum wage is more than $15, a Big Mac is less expensive than in the United States. In New York, its minimum wage is higher than the legislation Governor Christie vetoed.

No one working in New Jersey should have to live below the poverty line. No one.

Christie veto of minimum wage bill sets up push for constitutional amendmentBy Linh Tat

PENNINGTON - In the latest round of what promises to be a "loud" fight, Gov. Chris Christie vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have raised New Jersey's minimum wage to $15 by 2021, and set the stage for Democrats to push for a constitutional amendment next year.

Christie's veto comes as no surprise. Even before this week, Democrats in the state Legislature were looking ahead and discussing plans to place the measure before voters in 2017.

In announcing his vet, the Republican governor called on invited guests assembled at a news conference to “fight publicly, loudly, aggressively” and to educate the public that the proposed wage increase would force businesses to raise prices, cut hours or reduce staff, or possibly shutter their doors.

Under the proposal, New Jersey’s $8.38 minimum wage would rise to $10.10 in 2017. It would continue to increase in phases, hitting $15 by 2021 or earlier....


Click Here To Read More



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

DC enacted a minimum wage increase and look at what happened: http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/08/26/washington-dc-the-minimum-wage-and-jobs-yup-up-goes-the-wage-down-go-the-jobs/#319e2ed82525

Anonymous said...

Yet the number of new jobs continue to increase every month.