Small businesses benefit when wages rise

Author Caius Z. Willingham argues that raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour would raise incomes for 32 million Americans, which in turn would boost consumer spending and support small businesses.

For nearly a year now, small businesses owners have been struggling to keep their heads above water. As Congress looks for solutions to help the country recover from the COVID-19 crisis, supporting small businesses must be gave priority to and one of the best ways to do this is by raising the minimum wage to $15 dollars an hour.

About a third of business owners report that the pandemic has had a large negative effect on their operations, with small business revenue down more than 30% compared with before the coronavirus made it to the United States. Overall, there are 34% fewer small businesses are currently operating in the United States than at this time last year. Small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy, employing nearly half of all workers.

The above excerpt was originally published in MarketWatch. Click here to view the full article.

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