Think Tank: Higher Tipped Minimum Wage Bad For Ohio

A right-leaning think tank is touting a new report they say shows Ohio would lose more than 11,000 jobs under a plan to more than triple the hourly minimum wage for tipped employees. More than 100 House Democrats, including Dennis Kucinich, Marcy Kaptur, and other Ohioans have argued for the tipped minimum wage increase from $2.13 to $6.86 an hour. It would be the first time Congress changed the $2.13 an hour wage since 1991. But Mike Saltsman with the Employees Policies Institute says an increase in the tipped minimum wage would cost jobs, and could actually lower wages. “Let’s say you have a restaurant, like they’ve down in Washington State, that has servers, maybe cuts the numbers of servers or has severs work on larger table sections so they’re more stretched. The opportunity to earn tip income could actually decrease and go down.â€? Ohio’s has a tipped minimum wage of $3.85 an hour. The Democrat-backed bill is NOT expected to move out of the GOP-controlled House.