Minimum wage hike stirs worry among Minnesota's not-so-small businesses

[LakeVermilion]

When Angie Decker and her business partner started a new enterprise three years ago, they knew their labor costs would grow over time as they hired more staff. Right now their current staff seems about right and things seem financially stable.

http://www.mprnews.org/story/2014/04/17/minimum-wage-hike-minnesota-small-businesses?refid=0&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+MPR_Business+%28Business+from+Minnesota+Public+Radio%29

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With some exceptions, large businesses will have to pay workers $8 an hour starting Aug. 1. Woof Room workers already start at that wage, so Decker won't have to make any immediate changes.

But she doesn't know how they will manage costs in future years as the minimum wage climbs to $9.50 an hour and then gets indexed to inflation. Will they have to cut back on staff? Must they raise the price of services, which currently run $28 a day? Or will they have to skimp on promotions and merit increases for more tenured workers?

"The next three years might be difficult to hold on to really good staff," she said.

Personal thought:

When paying minimum wage, I don't know if anyone should have the luxury of wanting to hold on to good staff.

[Blue_Adept]

1. Or maybe...

their business will make more money because people will be spending more because THEY have money. It's a raise all boats thing.

and honestly, if your business plan considers employees a flat expense with no growth, you're doing it wrong.

[99Forever]

2. IMO

Any business that can't make it while paying a LIVIBLE wage to their employees, doesn't deserve to stay in business, let alone "keep good staff."

[The Straight Story]

3. They need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps - and

they knew (or should have known) going into business that there was a minimum wage and that it has gone up over the years and would again.

Recap: They should have planned better and just like in the real world when our prices keep going up to increase profit margins you have to just pull yourself up and work more jobs or longer hours.

There, I think I covered their logic and how it applies to them.

[Scuba]

4. Same thing was said about ending slavery 154 years ago.

If your business depends on slave labor to profit, you've no right to be in business. Either pay a living wage or get out.

[Fred Sanders]

6. Same argument for slavery, you got that right....same old same old greed at work....and laziness.

[Demonaut]

5. "pesonal thought"?....................yeah........

[B Calm]

7. Republicans hate working people!

[Bandit]

8. Does the CEO make three hundred times what their workers make?

That seems to be the average for large corporations. Why should they make more than ten times their lowest paid worker? Greed that's why....If they lowered their salary to a reasonable amount there would not be any concerns about raising the minimum wage.

[Brickbat]

9. "The next three years might be difficult to hold on to really good staff," she said.

True -- running a business so close to the margin that these incremental cost-of-inflation pay raises put you under will definitely make it hard to hold on to good staff.