Issue Position: $15 Minimum Wage

Issue Position

As a small business owner, Matt understands that customers and demand drive business profitability. The best way to increase demand is to deploy the tool that Henry Ford discovered. By paying workers more, Henry Ford grew the market for his Model T because workers who earn more are able to buy more and the economy grows. Demand grows economies, and wage stagnation has been hurting economic growth in the United States since the late 1970s. By increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour much of the purchasing power that low end workers have lost as a result of inflation will be restored, but more importantly, increasing the minimum wage will drive the wages of those already earning more than the minimum wage higher in order to keep those workers satisfied. A steep increase in the minimum wage will increase wage friction because workers will have the option of taking other jobs that pay better money for less demanding work. This will create additional purchasing power for middle income earners that has been lost since the late 1970s as well because businesses will increase wages to retain workers.

In the early 1950s, the Truman administration doubled the minimum wage, and within 2 years, the unemployment rate had been cut in half. During the first year of the considerable minimum wage increase, the unemployment rate had already begun to drop. Increasing the minimum wage grows demand and demand is what is presently lacking in the United States economy. New York State has already enacted the $15 an hour minimum wage to be phased in over time during the next few years. If the federal government doesn't also increase the minimum wage nationally to stimulate the economy, then businesses will move to lower wage states further depressing the economy of Upstate New York. A Congressional Representative who will guarantee a $15 an hour wage nationally is vital to continued economic growth in Upstate New York.

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