Who doesn’t want more cash? The unions certainly do, which is why they’re backing a constitutional amendment to raise the minimum wage every year, automatically, forever.
If only it were that simple. But the money to pay higher wages has to come from somewhere. NFIB research and lots of independent studies show that when employers have to pay more, they hire less. Kids are hit hardest since they’re at the bottom of the wage scale.
Ballot Question #2 would increase the cost of entry-level labor by 13.8 percent immediately and then increase the minimum wage every year based on inflation.
Most small businesses, including NFIB members, start their employees above minimum wage. Many can’t afford to pay more, however, and they’ll be devastated by Ballot Question #2. What will happen to their workers? They’ll lose their jobs or have their hours and benefits cut.
A recent study shows a New Jersey minimum wage increase would wipe out up to 31,000 jobs. Hurting those the amendment claims it help. If jobs are lost, who really benefits?
Learn more at SaveNewJerseyJobs.com.
Come Election Day, the concern is: Who doesn’t want more money? Who doesn’t want to change the constitution? Who would rather save New Jersey jobs?
The hurdle is educating the public to understand that while more money sounds good in theory, keeping and creating jobs is the best path to that outcome, not mandating wages in the constitution.
About Laurie Ehlbeck
Laurie Ehlbeck, an experienced government relations representative and former New Jersey Deputy Attorney General, was named the New Jersey state director for the National Federation of Independent Business in April 2006.
As director of NFIB, the state's largest small-business advocacy organization, Ehlbeck will represent the interests of NFIB's 9,300 members in the Legislature as well as before state regulatory agencies.
"Laurie brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to this position that will be a great benefit to NFIB's small-business members in New Jersey," said Tim Goodrich, regional public policy director for NFIB.
Ehlbeck most recently was the director of government affairs for the New Jersey Food Council where she represented food chains, convenience stores, independent grocers and others in the food industry before the Legislature. Prior to the Food Council, Ehlbeck was a Deputy Attorney General where she served as Legislative Counsel identifying legal and constitutional issues, and was instrumental in drafting New Jersey Cultural Trust Fund legislation.
A graduate of Rutgers University and Widener University School of Law, Ehlbeck has also served with the New Jersey State Senate Majority as a Judiciary Committee Aide, and has worked at Dilworth, Paxson, Kalish & Kauffman. She also has served as a member of the Township of Franklin Ordinance Review Committee.
Heavily involved in the community, Ehlbeck is president of the Board of Directors of Quixote Quest, a teen volunteer club, the Washington Township Citizen's Advisory Committee, and is an assistant spokesperson of Washington Township Parents of Special Needs Children.
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