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

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.