A new study from the National Employment Law Project shows Arkansas’s economy had strong growth after the state’s minimum wage was increased in 2014. Voters are now deciding whether to raise it again through Issue 5 on next week’s ballot. If passed, it would raise the state's current minimum wage from $8.50 to $11 an hour by 2021.
The report shows that unemployment in Arkansas dropped from 6 to 3.7 percent over the course of three years from 2014 to 2017. Leo Gertner, an attorney with the nonprofit group, says that's one of the lowest rates in the region.
"In 2014 Arkansas voters overwhelmingly approved the minimum wage increase to the current level of $8.50, which is the highest among its neighboring states, and yet Arkansas saw stronger growth than most of those states and it's economy improved more rapidly," he said.
Opponents of Issue 5 say that raising the minmum wage again would be bad for businsses. Randy Zook, president of the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce, has said Issue 5 would be bad for business growth.
Gertner says the past 25 years of academic research shows there are no adverse effects on workers when the minimum wage is raised.
"We've seen consistently in state after state and city after city that raise the minimum wage in the last few years, that businesses have thrived," he said. "That's confirmed also by the fact that some surveys have shown over 80 percent of business people support raising the minimum wage."
View the entire study herevia the Arkansas Times.