Raise the Wage:  Iowa

More than two-thirds of small business owners recognize that raising the minimum wage would benefit businesses and support raising it.  Small business owners already acknowledge the benefits of higher wages, which is why 85% of those surveyed don’t pay any of their workers the federal minimum wage of $7.25.

Raising the minimum wage is important for jobs

Studies have shown that minimum wage increases do not cause job losses.  In 2010, economists studied employment levels in neighboring counties that straddle a border between states that had different minimum wage rates between 1990 and 2006.  The study found that “minimum wage increases did not cause job losses in counties with higher minimum wages.”

In fact, more than half of states that raised the minimum wage during periods of high unemployment saw the unemployment rate decrease over the next 12 months.

Iowans support raising the minimum wage

The majority of Iowans support raising the minimum wage.  Some polling shows that the majority of Iowans–53%* – support raising the minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $10.10.

60% of Iowans also believe that the gap between the rich and poor is getting bigger and 56% believe that not everyone in Iowa has an equal shot of getting ahead economically.

*Another poll published in The Des Moines Sunday Register on March 2 showed that 65% of Iowans favor raising the minimum wage.

Why raising the minimum wage is the right choice for Iowa

216,000: Number of people in Iowa who would be directly affected by increasing the federal minimum wage to $10.10

90,000: Number of people in Iowa who would be indirectly affected by increasing the federal minimum wage.

Increasing the federal minimum wage would have a total wage increase of $430,462,000 for Iowa.

Increasing the federal minimum wage in Iowa helps women—more than 57% of the workers benefitting from a minimum wage increase are women.