Connecticut To Raise Minimum Wage! by Rachel Almquist

No, Connecticut Businesses Aren't Freaking Out About The New $10.10 Minimum Wage:

By Hunter Stuart:
Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/01/connecticut-minimum-wage_n_5045130.html?utm_hp_ref=money&ir=Money

If you've heard the news lately, a law was passed last Thursday raising the state's minimum wage from $8.70 to $10.10 an hour, making it the highest of any state in the nation. The news is significant because $10.10 is also the same rate that President Barack Obama wants for the federal minimum wage, which means many on Capitol Hill will be watching to see how Connecticut's economy performs under the new law, as Obama seeks to convince a polarized Congress to approve the wage hike during a midterm election year. I'm kind of interested to see what happens with the new minimum wage being raised. If it performs poorly, how will that affect the rest of the nation? What will the minimum wage be lowered to afterwards? And, I think most of all, how will it affect Obam's decision to apply the same minimum wage hike to the rest of the nation? "Odds are, the president will have a tough time doing so. Many Republicans have been outspoken in their opposition to such an increase, saying it would make it harder for businesses to afford the cost of employment. Lawrence Cafero, Jr., Connecticut's House minority leader, recently called the wage hike a "punch in the gut" to small businesses, according to the Associated Press." But most small businesses in Connecticut that were interviewed by the Huffington Post on this event said that they weren't particularly worried or concerned with the issue. "We only have about a half dozen employees, and I don't think any of them make under $10.10," the owner, Ron Serafino, told HuffPost on the phone. "So I don't think it will impact me that much." Research suggests that raising the minimum wage would, in fact, increase aggregate household spending. What's more, a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office found that raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour would boost the earnings of over 16 million people and lift about 900,000 people out of poverty. While the report also found that the wage hike would lead to a loss of about half a million jobs, other studies have challenged the idea that raising the minimum wage would have such an effect.