Obama's plan to hike minimum wage could hurt Tulsa businesses

In Tuesday night's State of the Union speech, President Barack Obama called for a higher minimum wage

The President proposed raising the current minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour.

Obama says the key to reviving America's economy is to bring more jobs to the United States, give Americans the skills they need to perform them and provide those workers with a decent living.

Brian Cozad is the Chief Financial Officer for Green Country Staffing. He tells KRMG that a minimum wage hike has the potential to cut orders to his staffing company.

Cozad points out that raising the minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $9.00/hour would cost employers only $70 per week per employee. Cozad says, "If you've got 10, 20 employees that are making minimum wage and you have to raise all of them to $9, you're going to have a problem keeping the revenue flowing."

Increased costs, Cozad believes, could lead to some tough personnel decisions for employers. Cozad says, "You may be more likely to lay a person off or you may be more likely to not hire a new person."

The current $7.25 minimum wage was last increased in 2007.