Senate Rejects Minimum Wage Increase

The state Senate rejected a proposal to increase the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 by 2016 on May 8, by a vote of 13-11.

If approved, the proposal would have increased the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.25 at the beginning of next year and then to $9 on Jan. 1, 2016. The next year, the minimum wage would have increased automatically based on the Consumer Price Index.

Arguments both pro and con fell along party lines, with the talking points mimicking those going on at both the state and national level. 

Democratic state senators noted that low-wage workers deserved a pay increase and it would assist working families survive; Republican state senators stated that the increase would be a burden to businesses trying to navigate through a shaky economy while potentially forcing companies to eliminate jobs.

While speaking from the Senate floor, state Sen. Peter Bragdon, R-Milford, criticized the proposal, including the proposal's ability to lock-in automatic increases based on the CPI. He quoted from the Bureau of Labor Statistics which noted that most minimum wage workers were under 25, worked part-time, or worked in food services.

“Of the 370 Thousand workers paid hourly in New Hampshire, just 13,000 are at or below the federal minimum,” he said. “These are primarily young people, just entering the workforce. Increasing the cost of hiring these young people for their job will cut off the first rung in the economic ladder.”

State Sen. Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord, countered that those who currently earn the minimum wage and others who would benefit in the future deserved a raise.

"These are families who work hard and play by the rules,” she said in a statement. “They should be able to afford to live with dignity and raise a family. Accelerating New Hampshire’s economic growth is only possible when individuals and working families are confident in their own financial situations. When that happens, their increased spending helps to grow our businesses and our economy."

State Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, however, challenged the presumption about minimum wage workers by Democrats stating that they were entry level and not primary wage earners.

“There needs to be a place for high school kids and part-time workers to gain entry into the marketplace,” he said. “The suggestion that we see that there are so many people on minimum wage just isn’t as accurate as some would suggest … in light of the increase in health insurance, the gas tax, property taxes … how many more taxes can we put on people and businesses?”

Sanborn added that even President Barack Obama’s own study showed that there could be 500,000 fewer jobs nationally if the minimum wage increased.

Speaker Terie Norelli, D-Portsmouth, though chastised Republicans in the Senate, stating, “The disrespect and lack of understanding projected by a number of Senators during the discussion of the bill makes clear that they are dangerously out of touch with the hardworking people they represent.”

While only 13,000 workers in New Hampshire currently earn at or below the minimum wage, according to 2012 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the New Hampshire Fiscal Policy Institute stated in a press release that the vote effectively denied a raise to nearly 76,000 people.

Jeff McLynch, the executive director of the NHFPI, said that the figure was based on the community survey collected by the U.S. Census Bureau that was analyzed by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank that has admittedly received extensive funding from labor unions that are also pushing minimum wage increases at the state and federal level. 

McLynch said the extra 63,000 workers who could benefit from the minimum wage increase are workers who currently earn between $7.25 and $9 an hour and slightly above $9, would be elevated during the next two years. Historically, he said, increases in the minimum wage often boosted those sectors of workers that are already earning more than the current minimum wage.