As you would expect, some business people in Tennessee are opposed to a higher state minimum wage. According to this report, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, a lobbying organization representing small business, says 78% of its members oppose the legislation.

There's at least one small business owner in the state who does not oppose the legislation, but they didn't ask me because I'm not a member.

But who did they ask?

Read more after the jump...

According to the news report (which is based on a NFIB press release), their survey got only a 5% response from their 10,000 members in the state. That works out to 500 businesses. According to the Small Business Administration, as of 2003 there were approx. 457,100 small businesses in the state.

So the NFIB survey is based on a sampling of barely one tenth of one percent. Maybe one of you statisticians out there can say whether that's a reasonable sampling, or what the margin of error would be. And does the 5% response rate indicate a lack of strong feelings about it?

Regardless, it's probably a safe bet that most Tennessee businesses are opposed to a state minimum wage (although I'm not an oddsmaker, either). Just as they are opposed to unions, worker compensation insurance, taxes, etc. etc. It's only natural.

Another thing that puzzles me is where Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen stands on working with the Democratic legislators in the Tennessee House to take a serious look at this. According to the article:

Gov. Phil Bredesen has said he supports higher wages, but only if they are implemented nationwide. The governor argues that raising the minimum wage in Tennessee could drive jobs to neighboring states.

If Gov. Bredesen truly supports higher wages, this would seem like a good opportunity to join 18 other states in setting a higher minimum wage.

Politically, he's pretty much ten feet tall and bullet proof at the moment. It doesn't appear he's facing any serious opposition (or any at all) for reelection, and a state minimum wage would appease his more liberal and progressive Democratic base, who aren't too happy with him right now because of the TennCare cuts.

As for a higher minimum wage sending jobs to other states, do we really need more minimum wage, no benefit, low skill call center jobs in Tennessee? Besides, who's going to turn down $200 million in incentives to move their offices here like Nissan recently got?

Furthermore, as mentioned here previously, Florida's higher minimum wage (which was approved by more than 70% of voters and signed into law by Republican Governor Jeb Bush) doesn't seem to have hurt Florida's economy. The last time we were down there we saw "help wanted" signs everywhere. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Dec. 2005 unemployment in Florida was 3.4%. It was 5.4% in Tennessee. Not having a higher minimum wage doesn't seem to be helping South Carolina, where unemployment was 7.2%, or Mississippi, where it was 8.8%.

It should also be noted that the median hourly wage in Tennessee is already $12.59, more than twice the federal minimum wage. The average hourly wage is $15.74, more than three times the federal minimum wage.

According to an Economic Policy Institute report on the effects of higher minimum wages on small businesses, "the number of small business establishments grew twice as quickly in states with higher minimum wages (3.1% vs. 1.6%)", and "employment grew 1.5% more quickly in high minimum wage states."

Finally, the "18 states with higher minimum wage laws" statement you keep reading in the press is a little misleading. In fact, all but six states have state minimum wage laws separate from federal law. As you would expect, most of the six who don't are in the South (Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Louisiana). The other is Arizona. So, even Arkansas could presumably raise their minimum wage it if they wanted.

You would think Gov. Bredesen would want the Tennessee State Legislature to have the same tools at their disposal as Arkansas, right?