It is a lower minimum wage that will make our state more competitive with our neighbors. We should be in a competition for employers.

Progressive’s “Fair Pay Act” Could Lead to $125/mo Lower Earnings. Expansion of “Training Wage” and EITC Recommended by Center.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 31, 2018

Resulting Reduced Earnings Would Harm Low-Wage Workers, Employers, and Economy

Expansion of “Training Wage” Recommended to Give Teens a Leg Up to Earn Vital Work Experience

Providence, RI — With the legislative onslaught from the progressive-left against employers and job growth now in full gear, the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity counters the misinformation put forth by supporters of the misguided “Fair Pay Act,” while offering more productive alternatives.

With the Ocean State already suffering from one of the worst state business climates and family prosperity rankings in the nation, the Center has published ample research over the years that demonstrates that the very people progressives seek to aid are the people who will most likely be hurt by new wage mandates. The Center’s research concluded:

    • Job losses, or a cut in hours worked, for many of the same people the legislation is intended to help
    • The vast majority of minimum wage workers are not heads-of-household, who need to earn a living wage for their family
    • It is a lower minimum wage that will make our state more competitive with our neighbors. We should be in a competition for employers.
    • Increased minimum wage mandates decrease job growth and economic activity
    • The often overlooked “wage-differential” factor will harm many employers with regard to massive increased costs for their non minimum wage workers

The Center’s findings have recently been backed up by actual results from the city of Seattle’s own findings, following its disastrous rush to force job-producers to pay a $15 minimum wage. The University of Washington study concluded that employment losses associated with the $15 mandate actually reduced total employee earnings, lowering the average earnings of low-wage employees by $125 per month.


Rhode Islanders need a credible alternative to the status quo and its destructive progressive ideas. You can help.

Click here to find out more >>>

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is the Ocean State’s leading voice against the wreckage caused by our state’s progressive agenda.

As the state’s leading research organization, advancing family and business friendly values… the mission of our Center is to make Rhode Island a better place to call home – to raise a family and to build a career.

While progressives value government-centric, taxpayer-funded dependency… our Center believes in the value of hard work and the free-enterprise system.

We understand that in order for more Rhode Island families to have a better quality of life, that more and better businesses are needed to create more and better jobs.

Your donation will help us fight the union-progressive movement and, instead, advocate for pro-family, pro-business policies and values.

Please make a generous, tax-deductible gift to support our Center today!

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Further, as Rhode Island employers already voluntarily engage in fair-pay practices, the attempt by progressives to mandate gender pay equity cannot be fairly enforced and would also lead to unintended adverse consequences, .

“When employers are faced with high financial or legal risk when making employment decisions, they will naturally avoid such decisions and resort to less risky employment practices,” commented the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “The result will inevitably be that fewer women, fewer low-skilled job-seekers, and fewer teens will be hired.”

To give teens a leg up in obtaining vital work experience and spending money, and as a counter to the adverse impact of higher minimum wage mandates, the Center suggests that Rhode Island’s existing “Training Wage” provisions be expanded to provide for a greater wage differential, to more teens, and in a greater number of work environments for the allowable “exceptions” to the minimum wage laws (www.dlt.ri.gov/ls/minwage.htm). Such reforms would make hiring seasonal and part-time workers a win-win situation for employers and teens, and should be designed so as not displace more experienced or full-time employees.

And, as it has advocated in recent years, the Center also recommends expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), as a more effective way to bolster incomes for low-wage family workers. EITC tends to be an incentive to work more hours and, as opposed to most other public assistance programs, can put families on a path to economic independence, without risking opportunities for work. Combined with other
public assistance programs, more families can more quickly rise out of poverty when family members are actually working.

Many myths exist about Minimum Wage

MINIMUM WAGE TESTIMONY: Misperceptions & Myths; EITC Recommended by the Center

March 30, 2017  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Providence, RI – The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity published the full written testimony its CEO will submit to the House Committees on Finance and Labor, the latter of which will today hear multiple bills seeking to raise the state’s minimum wage rate.

“Every Rhode Islander who strives to work hard should be able to earn enough income to support themselves and their families,” writes Mike Stenhouse, who holds an Economics degree from Harvard University. “Yet lawmakers must act on the facts and not on the many myths that cloud this emotional topic.”


Rhode Islanders need a credible alternative to the status quo and its destructive progressive ideas. You can help.

Click here to find out more >>>

The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is the Ocean State’s leading voice against the wreckage caused by our state’s progressive agenda.

As the state’s leading research organization, advancing family and business friendly values… the mission of our Center is to make Rhode Island a better place to call home – to raise a family and to build a career.

While progressives value government-centric, taxpayer-funded dependency… our Center believes in the value of hard work and the free-enterprise system.

We understand that in order for more Rhode Island families to have a better quality of life, that more and better businesses are needed to create more and better jobs.

Your donation will help us fight the union-progressive movement and, instead, advocate for pro-family, pro-business policies and values.

Please make a generous, tax-deductible gift to support our Center today!

show less


After pointing out many of the Ocean State’s poor business and family prosperity rankings, Stenhouse’s testimony cites research and raises concerns about a number of issues, including:

  • Job losses for many of the same people the legislation is intended to help
  • Myth about who is and who is not the typical minimum wage worker
  • Myth about a wage hike keeping our state competitive with our neighbors
  • Myths about increased minimum wages stimulating jobs and economic growth
  • The “wage-differential” factor that will harm employers who do not employ minimum wage workers

Union angle? The testimony also raises questions about a little-discussed issue … how special interest unions might benefit from a minimum wage hike.

Finally, the testimony makes a recommendation on behalf of the Center … that expanding the state’s EITC (Earned Income Tax Credit) is a superior alternative to hiking the minimum wage. “Directly assisting low-income families without risking job losses and without further burdening business owners is a much better path for our state,” concluded Stenhouse.


The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity is the Ocean State’s leading voice against the wreckage caused by our state’s progressive agenda.

As the state’s leading research organization, advancing family and business friendly values… the mission of our Center is to make Rhode Island a better place to call home – to raise a family and to build a career.

While progressives value government-centric, taxpayer-funded dependency… our Center believes in the value of hard work and the free-enterprise system.

We understand that in order for more Rhode Island families to have a better quality of life, that more and better businesses are needed to create more and better jobs.

Your donation will help us fight the union-progressive movement and, instead, advocate for pro-family, pro-business policies and values.

Please make a generous, tax-deductible gift to support our Center today!