The New Mexico Business Coalition (NMBC) encourages New Mexicans to buy from and support local businesses. The problem is we have elected officials who continue to pass laws and regulations that make it difficult for local businesses to survive. Small businesses are being held to legal standards that are difficult to comply with and expensive to implement. Recent increases in the minimum wage impose a financial burden on businesses during the worst economic downturn in more than 80 years.
What are the ‘un-intended’ consequences of mandated wage increases?
Mandated wage hikes cause business owners to make very difficult decisions that typically involve the elimination of jobs, reduction of staff hours and/or an increase in prices. Many small business owners work 60-80 hours a week just to make payroll. When they are forced by government action to increase operating costs, these costs are passed on to consumers and jobs are lost. In response to the 2007 federal minimum wage increase, businesses took the following actions: 58% increased prices, 41% reduced the number of hours that their employees work, 26% postponed plans for new hiring and 24% reduced the number of employees in their business.
We Need Jobs For New Mexicans
The overwhelming majority of minimum wage earners are teenagers holding their first job that allows them the opportunity to: 1) develop good work habits early in life; 2) gain experience in order to move on to better paying jobs; and 3) develop self-reliance.
Businesses cannot open or survive without the ability to hire entry level empoyees. But if we allow it, government regulations will make it so that the only companies left standing are large companies who can spread the costs of new employees. It’s time to take a stand New Mexico.
Get Involved and Take Action
The Bernalillo County Commission has scheduled a minimum wage hearing for Tuesday, April 23, at 5:00 pm, in the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County Government, Vincent E. Griego Chambers, Concourse Level II. Commissioners will consider raising the minimum wage to $8.50/hour and indexing it to inflation (where it will increase automatically but never adjust downward in times of recession.)
Plan now to be a part of the NMBC crowd who will attend and speak up for working families, our kids and seniors by speaking against this job killing measure. We encourage you to call and email the following Commissioners TODAY and ask them to vote ‘no’ on raising the Bernalillo County Minimimum Wage: Debbie O’Malley, Maggie Hart Stebbins, and Art De La Cruz.
You can also let the Commissioners know that raising the minimum wage is bad for our economy by signing a statewide, online ‘Petition for Business Owners Opposed to Raising the Minimum Wage’ here or sending your message to them at Commission@bernco.gov.
Become a member of the New Mexico Business Coalition Today and join our effort to make New Mexico a prosperous place for businesses and individuals.
Contact the New Mexico Business Coalition at (505) 836-4223 or nmbiz@nmbizcoalition.org for more information.
