Statement in Response to New York State Department of Labor’s Minimum Wage Report

February 10th, 2016

“The state Labor Department’s ‘analysis’ of a $15 minimum wage falls far short of the thorough, objective analysis that state lawmakers and the public deserves.

For example, it does not look at the real impacts that a 67-percent minimum wage increase will have on small businesses, family farms, non-profits, local governments and school districts. It also fails to mention any potential job losses, tax hikes or cost-of-living increases that will occur if this mandate is enacted.

The public deserves more from the state Labor Department than a self-serving report that regurgitates the slogans of minimum wage advocates and provides unsupported assertions about how a new wage mandate will benefit businesses.

Rather than rush into the largest minimum wage increase in our nation’s history, we call on the Administration to hire an objective, third-party to undertake a peer-reviewed economic impact analysis of what the governor has proposed.

We need to move beyond the rhetoric and understand the real world impacts of this massive 67-percent minimum wage increase.”