Posted on 01/05/2007 2:05:18 AM PST by leadpenny
ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Ohio’s new minimum wage is just five days old but already, some businesses have begun raising their prices to pay for it.
On Monday, the state’s minimum wage rose $1.70 from the national level of $5.15 an hour to $6.85. Annual cost-of-living increases will follow. Voters approved the change via a constitutional amendment in the November general election.
About 600,000 of Ohio’s 5.5 million workers got raises Jan. 1.
Several Belmont County businesses said they have cut back on their work force or at least workers’ hours.
Jerry Gasber of Gasber’s Fine Day Restaurant, located on U.S. 40 west of St. Clairsville, said he already has cut back one person on each shift. In addition, he’s had to raise prices.
“It’s very inflationary,” he said of the increase.
It comes at a time when Gasber’s business is being affected by a gasoline surtax on food deliveries and a tax on sanitation. He noted sanitation rates have increased four-fold over the past five years.
At Sonny Boy’s on National Road in Bridgeport, there haven’t been any staff cuts. However, the restaurant has raised its prices by about 50 cents per meal, said Tracy Leiffer, spokeswoman for the business.
Mike Palicka, manager of Garfield’s restaurant in the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville, said that business hasn’t raised prices yet, “but I’m sure it’s going to come.”
The business, he said, will have to cut back on hours for its employees. However, he doesn’t think it will be a problem. The wage increase comes at a time when the holiday rush is over and many employees are returning to school, he said.
At the Subway store in Martins Ferry prices have gone up by 20 cents a sandwich, said manager Loren Beckett. However, there have been no cuts in staffing, she said.
But the increase seems to have had no effect on the Convenient Food Mart in Flushing, according to manager Linda Porter.
The same goes for Zontini’s Pizza in Martins Ferry and Carlini’s Pizza in Shadyside.
When asked if he’d seen any changes, Zontini’s manager John Canter said “not really.”
According to published reports, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., has indicated a federal minimum wage increase will be part of her first 100-hour agenda. The measure would call for a raise to $7.15 an hour, but it is not expected to include adjustments for inflation.
Meanwhile, Michigan’s minimum wage will go from $6.95 to $7.15 on July 1 and to $7.40 a year later.
Pennsylvania’s minimum wage rose to $6.25 an hour on Monday and will increase to $7.15 on July 1. The increase was approved by the state’s General Assembly and was signed by Gov. Ed Rendell in July
Also the unemployment rate...
Not only are we Ohio residents learning this lesson, we are also learning a lesson that our personal freedoms are being taken away (very strict no smoking policy)bit by bit. What a stupid state I live in. What's next? Trans fat? Liquor?
And push everyone into a higher tax bracket.
Funny, that's what I've been saying here only to get blasted.
The other lesson we haven't learned is that while the Cleveland area is one of the most depressed economically in the country that by raising the minimum wage we have just buried ourselves. While we pay more for services, more of the poor can't afford anything. Oh yeah, we'll get them more welfare. ..what a joke
The worst part of the Ohio law is the built increases, but the voters didn't care, they were sticking to the man(evil business).
You see the same mindset by some posters on FR, who are woefully economically ignorant.
It's none of government's darned business what two people agree upon. If someone offers someone three dollars an hour to work and someone agrees to it, what's the problem? What happened to "choice"?
"Then, when businesses start to fail, pass laws forbidding companies to go out of business."
We could call it slavery.
That would be my tactic, too. When Dems offer these bills in state legislatures, the Republicans should "paper" the heck out of them with very high hourly wages on the amendments and let the Demcocrats have to vote against them.
Bingo!!
So wage increases bloom all the way up the hourly food-chain into the "hard-core" labor sector. This faithful and patient democrat crowd will finally get goods for service.
Isn't ironic / moronic how the debate centers on the bottom of the wage ladder. A crowd likely not to vote. No mention is made to the constituents who really reap the huge rewards from political tyrants.
I had a part time job when I was going to High School. When the minimum wage increased, my hours were reduced.
I certainly do. That is why I voted against that issue. Not that it did any good, because OH has flipped from a red to a blue state. It was just too strong of a blue tide.
Not a lot of people know it, but not only is it a law, it is an amendment to the state Constitution. That is a pretty powerful tool handed to the unions of the state. They can force businesses to open their records to scrutiny if there is any hint of not paying the legal minimum wage (although I don't think there is a provision for employers to be able to inquire about legal/illegal immigrant status of prospective employees). Ohio is rated as one of the worst states in which to do business already. This won't help.
Minimum wage ping!
The same thing happened here in Colorado during the last election!
Are there situations where something harmful occurs? Sure. Is it wide spread? Do some people and businesses benefit, despite the increase? Again, yes.
The question is, are there still businesses that pay workers minimum wage starting businesses or continuing in business where the impact will be felt? Will McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, Subway, Pizza Hut and other min wage paying businesses stop openning outlets in those states? And isn't it funny that most places plan a first of the year increase in prices anyhow.
The economic impact is hard to assess. We seemed to continue to buld min wage level jobs after the last increase, despite predictions of wide spread pain. The argument should center around the role of the government in free markets. How much is enough, how much is too little, and how much is too much.
I feel your pain, I live in New Jersey.
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