"$15/hr will kill small businesses" is this true?

[Jirel]

36. No.

This is literally the argument every time there has been an increase in the minimum wage (33 times!), and it has always been false. We have $15/hr in some cities now, and there is no evidence of putting small businesses out of business. I have a friend who I otherwise love and respect who keeps saying this about his nonprofit. Well, I can tell you that there might be a bit of reshuffling, but worse than that? Not at all. I do get it that the nonprofit is squeezed horribly with COVID - even with some larger donors (ourselves included) stepping up to try to close the funding gap. But, it would NOT go under.

Similarly, I run my own business. It has gotten downright weird since COVID. I didn’t rehire my assistant after the disastrous one quit, but my policy has always been that if I have an assistant, they get paid first, and if there’s no money to pay me that month, then I take a hit. Right now, the weird business is too slow to merit another staff member, but I wouldn’t be hurt by a $15 minimum wage either. The only change for me would be that I couldn’t do a $12/hr probationary period before an automatic $3/hr pay raise.

A lot of us operate on the edge sometimes. But in the end $15/hr would not impact us all that much. We might have to hire a few less part time hours in tight times, or whatever, but the bottom line is that if you’d be put out of business by $15/hr minimum wage, there’s a lot more wrong with your business than having to pay a living wage, and blaming the living wage is an excuse.