NJBIA Statement on $15 Minimum Wage Bill

NJBIA President & CEO Michele N. Siekerka, Esq. issued the following statement regarding a bill introduced by Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin today raising New Jersey’s minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

“The bill begins to address some of the issues we have previously raised, relative to the slow and steady increase of the minimum wage, giving businesses the planning time and predictability they need to accommodate the extra costs they’ll incur.

“However, we still have many concerns about the impacts of this bill and will continue to work with the Legislature on exceptions for certain workers and industries. We do not feel that the proposed exceptions go far enough.

“In NJBIA’s 2018 Health Benefits Survey, we saw a 7-percent decline in employers that offered health coverage plans for their employees from the previous two years. We are concerned that unless there is a consideration of overall compensation in this legislation, more employers will choose to drop employee health benefits plans to adjust for the increase in wages.

“We are also asking the Legislature to include a provision in the bill requiring an economic analysis of scheduled increases to provide the state the option of freezing an annual increase during a major economic downturn or in the wake of a natural disaster.

“Finally, NJBIA continues to stress our concerns about wage compression, and how creating inequitable pay differentials between low-skilled workers and trained or experienced ones, can impact businesses beyond the entry-level pay scale. These are complex issues requiring comprehensive analysis.”