Small Business Owners Oppose Minimum Wage Hike

MIDDLEBURY — The state’s largest small-business advocacy organization, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), has called on lawmakers to reject legislation that would automatically raise the state’s minimum wage on an annual basis.

“The proposed automatic and arbitrary increases in the Connecticut wage floor will only serve to decrease employment for entry level employees — particularly the low-skill employees that minimum wage hikes are intended to help,” Armando Palomino, state director of NFIB, told the Senate Labor and Public Employees Committee last week.

He noted that supporters of the wage increase claim it would help those in poverty.

“In fact, numerous studies reveal that the majority of beneficiaries from a minimum wage hike are not in poverty nor are they the primary earner in their family,” he said.

Mr Paolino said a higher minimum wage results in increased operating costs for small businesses and would result in reduced job opportunities for entry-level workers.

“The denial of an entry-level job keeps people from getting on-the-job training that leads to higher labor productivity and higher income,” he said.

The NFIB is Connecticut’s largest small-business advocacy organization with nearly 5,000 members.