Job Creators Network Calls on House to Reject $15 Minimum Wage Bill

Washington, DC (July 17, 2019) – On Thursday, the U.S. House will vote on H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act, which would double the federal minimum wage to $15 per hour. Job Creators Network (JCN) sent a letter opposing the bill to Speaker Pelosi, Majority Leader Hoyer, Minority Leader McCarthy, and Minority Whip Scalise. To read the letter, click here.

Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO, released the following statement.

American employees are already getting a minimum wage increase, without a counterproductive federal mandate. According to the latest BLS data, just 163,000 workers aged 25 and older — i.e. who aren’t entry-level — earn the $7.25 minimum wage out of 66 million hourly employees that are that age and older — just 0.2 percent of this workforce. Contrast this to the situation a few years ago, in 2014, when 550,000 workers aged 25 years and older earned the minimum wage out of a pool of 61.9 million hourly employees — 0.9 percent of this workforce. This means that the number of established workers earning the minimum wage has effectively fallen by more than three-quarters in the past few years. 

This massive drop in the number of non-entry-level minimum wage employees is largely thanks to President Trump’s booming economy that is creating opportunity for all. By weakening the bottom rung on the career ladder, a $15 minimum wage threatens to destroy this opportunity economy.