While federally or state-mandated increases in the minimum wage can impact employers of all size, they are particularly difficult on small businesses, which not only tend to employ larger percentages of minimum wage workers than larger businesses, but also find it more difficult to absorb the costs of these wage increases, given their often slim profit margins to begin with.

Some of these challenges are highlighted in the latest findings of the most recent Duke University/CFO Magazine Global Business Outlook Survey (www.cfosurvey.org), which were released in September.

The most significant finding, as reported in a September 9 press release from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University: Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in the U.S. stated that a hike in the minimum wage from the current federal standard of $7.25 to $10 an hour or more would result in immediate layoffs and significantly curtail future hiring at firms that would be affected by these wage hikes.