Connecticut state government apparently has taken notice of the economic difficulties facing the state and has slowed its assault on business.
Pardon us if we don’t join the celebration.
Instead of moving forward with a two-year plan that would raise the minimum wage from $8.25 an hour to $9.75 an hour, the adjusted thinking is to approve a two-year increase to ‘just’ $9 an hour.
The restaurant owners, employers of many minimum-wage earners, are screaming. The National Federation of Independent Business is hyperventilating.
“Raising the minimum wage is a back-door tax on labor and the predictable result will be fewer jobs and fewer small businesses in Connecticut,” said Andrew Markowski, the group’s state director.
NFIB makes the valid point that most people earning minimum wage are students and part-time workers. “It’s always been dishonest to describe the minimum wage as an anti-poverty program,” said Markowski. “It’s an anti-business program that will result in fewer part-time and entry-level jobs for the kids in our communities.”
And therein lies the rub. What Connecticut needs above all else is more jobs. With a foothold on the economic ladder, those young workers can learn, grow and advance. Without a place to start, too many will become long-term burdens to society.
We need to create jobs first and let the market determine the pay.
We seem cursed with a flock of legislators who seem incapable of grasping the basics of economics. And the result is a toxic brew that’s just killing business.
Governor Malloy seems to get that without employers, there are no paychecks. He recognized the minimum wage hike was ill-timed last session and prevailed in getting it benched. This time around, the best he could do is cut it in half. That’s helpful but agreeing to an automatic inflation escalator the dooms business to higher costs downstream is not.
We’ve discussed the minimum wage in this space before and $9 an hour wouldn’t be a bad figure, if it didn’t put Connecticut at such a disadvantage with its neighbors.
Still, the problem isn’t with the specifics of any one piece of legislation. Rather it’s with the overall message.
Beyond the minimum wage law, business is right to be concerned about the legislature creating a task force to study ways to pay employees out on family leave. Various private supplemental insurers have plans for short- and long-term disability, the largest use of the family leave act. But now the state wants to get involved and figure out a way to send at least some of that bill to employers.
To be fair, the legislature sees appointing a task force as the pro-business approach. After all, they could have just rammed a plan through this year. Studying the idea delays implementation, likely for two years. But the beat goes on: the state won’t keep its word on a business tax sunset clause; $100 million in economic development largesse can’t reverse the job losses; a $1 billion tax hike still leaves the state budget $1 billion short.
Malloy’s vow to send the signal that Connecticut is open for business simply isn’t working. There is ample evidence that he’s trying. But the end result is a continuation of the message that Connecticut is open for organized labor, not business.
The stop sign is clear. It’s a shame those in Connecticut government can’t see it.
