Small business owners are bottom-line oriented. They make decisions based on what makes financial sense. Doing right by their employees is just as important as the almighty dollar in the decision-making process. Small employers know a positive work environment means increased productivity, which improves their bottom line.
This explains why 57 percent of entrepreneurs support increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10, according to a recent Small Business Majority poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research. A higher minimum wage is good for consumer demand, which can give a boost to the economy and business profit margins.
Darien Southerland, president of BG Ad Group, a marketing and advertising agency in Atlanta, has raised wages for his office assistants and event workers to at least $10.10 an hour, the amount being proposed in a federal bill making its way through Congress.
“When you run a business and work with a small group of people, those people become like family, and it’s important to take care of them,” he said. “I’ve found that when you pay your workers a fair wage, it shows them you respect them, and they’ll work harder for you in return.”
The majority of small business owners believe it’s wrong that people working full-time earn $15,080 a year at the minimum wage, significantly lower than in the 1960s when adjusted for inflation.
More than half of small business owners polled agree increasing the minimum wage would make low-income consumers spend money. An analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute found that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would boost the economy by $22 billion during the initial phase-in period, creating 85,000 jobs.
In the Peach State, a raise would directly impact more than 570,000 workers and benefit a total of more than 900,000 Georgians in the workforce. It also would help lift out of poverty the 400,000-plus working adults with a family income of less than $20,000.
Raising the minimum wage also finds broad support in the retail and restaurant industries: Six in 10 small business owners in those industries support increasing the minimum wage to $10.10. This support is in stark contrast to those who say retailers and restaurateurs, in particular, would go under if the minimum wage was increased.
“We start our employees off at the minimum wage, though we like to bump up their wages a little bit quickly thereafter,” said Zach Davis, owner of Penny Ice Creamery and Restaurant Assembly in Santa Cruz, Calif. “I do not want my business to be a place that pays strictly minimum wage, because I’m a firm believer that the current federal minimum wage just isn’t practical.”
Small business owners are the nation’s biggest job creators. Politicians should listen to what they’re saying and act accordingly.
John Arensmeyer is founder and CEO of the Small Business Majority, an advocacy group.
