Are Your Ready To Double Your Wages?

By Matt Pillar, chief editor

It’s commonly held that the maintenance of a retail workforce consumes a double digit percentage of total revenue—in some cases north of 20 percent. In foodservice and hospitality segments that figure can climb to 30 percent.

It’s a massive line item that, for many U.S. retailers, is getting bigger fast. Several new state and municipal laws have raised the minimum wage significantly from the federal standard of $7.25 per hour that’s been in place since 2009. Rallying behind ongoing union efforts and the influence of the Bernie Sanders campaign’s call for a “living wage” of $15.00 per hour, legislators across the country are taking action:

• In 2014, initiatives to raise the minimum wage in Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota were successful.
• In California, a $15.00 minimum wage law was enacted in April of 2016 after a popular minimum wage initiative qualified for the November election. That law goes into effect by 2022 for large employers and 2023 for small employers.
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