Sep 22, 2015 - o 10% would relocate to another business community ... âThe small business community is barely keeping
Minimum Wage Survey
Overview of Survey Results: •
47% of respondents are “extremely concerned” to “very concerned” about the impact a minimum wage increase will have on their business
•
When asked about steps respondents would take to maintain their business if they could not offset increased costs by passing it on to their customers: o 35% said they would reduce employee hours
o 29% would eliminate jobs
o 10% would relocate to another business community
•
More than 25 business categories participated; 24% categorized as professional services; 33% from hospitality related industry (wineries, lodging, tours and transportation, etc.) and 14% were restaurants. Others included retail, healthcare, government, senior home care, construction, and wildlife to name a few.
•
63% of survey participants have 1-‐ -‐ -‐24 employees
Click here to see the detailed survey results. nd
Mark your calendar: The Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting on minimum wage on Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00am at 1195 Third Street, Napa, Third Floor.
Minimum Wage Survey
What Participants Are Saying:
“The small business community is barely keeping above water, increases in our costs forces cost cutting and price increases. There is no other source for the additional funds needed to meet another mandate.”
“I pay well above current minimum wage but for me any additional costs are hard to handle for a small business.”
“A low skilled part time worker can not be paid what a higher skilled employee gets. IT PUTS US OUT OF BUSINESS and some of us have no place else to GO!”
“Minimum wage was not meant to be a living wage. It’s a starting wage. If you want to make more money, you earn it by contributing to the profit of the business. “
“Continuing to raise the minimum wages creates a ripple effect. It’s not fair to skilled workers to have such a narrow gap between the skilled and non-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐skilled workers. Paying them the same wages is not based on merit but on idealism.” “Raising the minimum wage is essential for our community members/small business owners to be able to stay and live in Napa Valley. It is all about improving the quality of life and creating a compassionate community.”
“Increasing expenses by raising the employee minimum wage on a predetermined schedule without concern to the future of our economic environment is reckless.”
“I do not want the county to dictate to me how to run my business any more than it already does. I have considered moving to an area where my business income could stretch farther.”
“There are many small businesses in Napa that employ school age kids that work part time and are often paid at or just over minimum wage and are maxed out at what they can pay as it is. These kids don't rely on their jobs for "a living wage."
“All of our employees (14 total) and contractors (150) are paid significantly more than minimum wage. That said, any increase in the minimum wage is likely to have an echo
Click here to see the detailed survey results. nd
Mark your calendar: The Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting on minimum wage on Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00am at 1195 Third Street, Napa, Third Floor.
Minimum Wage Survey
effect resulting in higher wages for many employees -‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐ particularly those in the bottom tier of the organization.”
“It will affect our tight budget, but we are supportive.”
“For private schools, hiking the minimum wage with other current laws in place is untenable. For salaried exempt workers, the state mandates a salary of double the minimum wage. At $13/hr., that results in a minimum salary of $54,080. Please note that public schools are exempt from this, as there is a provision for collective bargaining agreements. That is quite a double standard.”
“A higher minimum wage gives an additional advantage to businesses/companies who have the capital for labor-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐saving technology improvements and massive scale, which enhances ability to negotiate lower costs of goods and services.”
“As a fine dining restaurant and with no exemption for highly-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐tipped employees (earning minimum wage), this will increase the employee wage disparity between our highest paid non-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐manager employees and lowest wage employees. Our tipped employees (working 32 hrs./wk. and earning $90k yr.) are the ones who benefit; NOT the low wage earners.
“Our employees already make wages well above anything proposed as a minimum wage. My concern is that it is bad economics and there is little purpose for a local minimum wage.” “We provide in-‐-‐-‐home care for disabled adults. If an increase in the minimum wage is accompanied by government funding, we would be fully supportive of moving to $15/hour rather quickly. If not funded, we oppose an increase, because we believe such adults should have the right to live in their own home with needed support.”
Minimum Wage Set by Federal, State or Local? 59% of participants think minimum wage should be set by the state or federal government, while 38.5% think it should be set locally.
Click here to see the detailed survey results. nd
Mark your calendar: The Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting on minimum wage on Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00am at 1195 Third Street, Napa, Third Floor.
Minimum Wage Survey
“If minimum wages must be set, it should be locally. The cost of living is significantly higher in Napa than in, say, Modesto. Big government, one-‐-‐-‐size-‐-‐-‐fits-‐-‐-‐all solutions are not the answer.”
”Set at the State level with a corresponding adjustment to state-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐funded programs. Without that adjustment, many of our low-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐income clients would become ineligible for programs, or have increases in their share of costs.” “On a basic level, federal law should create a level playing field across the country.”
“Local officials know the local economy and situation the best, and have vested interest in making the right decision to benefit the community.”
“Wages should reflect a free market transaction between willing buyers and sellers, just as goods and services are bought and sold. The minimum is agreed upon by parties to the transaction, not "set" by any law or government entity at any level.”
“Should be done on a state-‐-‐ -‐ wide basis.”
“Federal minimum wage is important, but local officials need to respond to local living conditions. Napa is too expensive for most low wage workers resulting in bad traffic, etc.”
“Whomever sets the minimum wage must include provisions exempting highly tipped employees from the standard minimum wage. In Napa County, with our tourist-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐based, restaurant-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐heavy economy, this is extremely important. The California Restaurant Association has lobbied for this for some time.”
Minimum Wage Survey Open/Response Rates:
•
Survey sent to 3,000+ emails with 1,000+ unique opens
•
Open rate of 33%+; surpassed Napa Chamber of Commerce (NCC) average of 28% and industry average of 24%
•
95% of survey responses were within 24-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐-‐36 hour period (released Thursday night leading into Labor Day weekend); includes 50 responses in first three minutes
Click here to see the detailed survey results. nd
Mark your calendar: The Board of Supervisors will hold a public meeting on minimum wage on Tuesday, September 22 at 9:00am at 1195 Third Street, Napa, Third Floor.
