Tim's Talking About Ohio's Minimum Wage, a Lesson Against Payroll Scheming and Small Business Hiring Prediction

Ohio Minimum Wage Rate Rising

While you probably have heard by now that the Ohio minimum wage rate for most will increase to $7.70 per hour January 1, 2012 did you know that Ohio has only had its own rate since 2007? That's right, Ohio voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2006 creating our own rate with an annual CPI review.

Perhaps no coincidence, state unemployment figures have been higher every year since. Since 2007 the Ohio rate has now increased from $6.85 to the upcoming $7.70 per hour and is $.45 higher than the current Federal rate.

And did you know that the Federal Minimum Wage Act created in 1938 set the first minimum wage at $.25 per hour. Currently 30 states have a rate that mirrors the Federal rate. The highest state rate is the State of Washington at $8.67 per hour. Several southern states have no state minimum wage and Georgia has the lowest rate at $5.15/hour.

Know Who You Are Doing Business With!

A former owner of a  Massachusetts based staffing company was sentenced to seven years in prison for running a $30 million under the table payroll scheme. Apparently Michael Powers paid the money under the table to workers over a five year period to workers to avoid paying the payroll taxes on the funds. The IRS will also get $9 million in past due taxes as part of the sentence.

Take A Lesson From The CAT

If you are a stock watcher you may have noticed that heavy industrial equipment maker Caterpillar has been on a roll lately having beat earnings estimates for the third quarter by about 25%. 

What you may not know is that Caterpillar has increased its "flexible" workforce 35.1% in that same quarter. The company's flexible workforce totaled 27,385 up 7,117 from the third quarter of 2010. Full time traditional employment was up 18.7%.

TD Bank Reports 16% Of Small Firms Hire

According to the survey 16% of all small businesses plan to create at least one new position during the  fourth quarter of 2011. Another 69% reported they plan to keep staffing levels the same.

Another 66% expect to meet or exceed revenue projections during the current quarter. The survey serves to point out the importance of small business in getting things turned around in this economy.