Committee on Education and Labor - U.S. House of Representatives

Helping Workers Doesn't Mean Hurting Business

Past minimum wage increases have not had a negative economic impact. In the four years after the last increase, the economy enjoyed its strongest growth in more than three decades, adding nearly 11 million new jobs.

busIn fact, small business employment grew more in states with a higher minimum wage between 1997 and 2003 than in federal minimum wage states -- 9.4 percent versus 6.6 percent. Retail establishments, another major minimum wage sector of the economy, saw their payroll grow by 12.3 percent in higher minimum wage states and by only 6.4 percent in low minimum wage states between 1998 and 2003. [Source: Center for American Progress and Policy Matters Ohio, 5/06]