Americans for Prosperity Challenge Unions on Minimum Wage Hike in New Jersey

Did New Jersey’s minimum wage increase help or hurt the poor? 

The free-market group Americans for Prosperity held a rally outside of AFL-CIO’s Trenton, New Jersey offices Friday, asking the union’s president Charles Wowkanech to debate the minimum wage.

“Charles Wowkanech was one of the biggest champions of New Jersey’s minimum wage law,” Daryn Iwicki, AFP’s state director said in a statement. “Now that it’s becoming clear how New Jersey’s minimum wage hike is going to hurt New Jerseyans and hurt job creators, Wowkanech is hiding under his desk.” 

In November of 2013, New Jersey amended the state constitution to allow legislation raising the minimum hourly pay from $7.25 to $8.25. The bill adjusts the mandated wage according to the state’s cost of living, so it is likely to rise yearly.

Proponents of the bill argued that the mandated wage increase would not shrink the labor force or negatively impact the business community. However, the Employment Policies Institute reached conflicting conclusions after they questioned 250 New Jersey businesses about the impact the new wage law would have on employment and their bottom line.

According to the EPI survey, 61 percent of business owners said they would be forced to raise prices on their goods or services, 48 percent said they were very or somewhat likely to reduce employee hours and 49 percent said they would have to cut staff from their payroll. 

In total, 78 percent of respondents said the legislation would have either a big or small impact on their labor costs.

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