Reilich: Raising Minimum Wage Bad for Business, Hurts Employment Opportunities for Job Seekers

Statement from Assemblyman Bill Reilich (R,C,I-Greece)

May 15, 2012

Raising the minimum wage will have undesired consequences not just for our small businesses, but for the single parent, parent, student, or others looking to rejoin or join the workforce through an entry level position in this state. A wage hike will force businesses to shut their doors and move out of state – creating more unemployment, fewer jobs, or forcing business owners to not hire more workers, due to increased cost per worker. In essence, government is again making it harder for businesses to grow and create jobs.

With New York already ranked 50th in the entire nation for being unfriendly to businesses, doing this will assuredly accelerate the exodus of businesses out of this state. There are certainly other measures that can be taken to make sure the nearly 800,000 unemployed in this state alone can find work. This policy is just another Albany knee-jerk reaction to try to “fix” the economy, when all that they should be doing is lowering taxes and abolishing the rules and regulations that continue to drive businesses away. This is a perfect example of that.

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