Raising the minimum wage to $9 an hour, as President Obama proposed in his State of the Union address on Tuesday, will be a “job killer” in Florida, claimed NFIB/Florida’s Executive Director Bill Herrle.

“A government mandate such as this would need to be completely absorbed by small-business owners, who are already operating on razor-thin margins,” Herrle stated in a release.

"Small firms cannot pay a worker more than the value the worker brings to the firm. Raising the minimum wage denies more low-skilled workers the opportunity to get a job and receive ‘on the job’ training. It also denies workers seeking entry-level jobs employment, and puts them at an economic disadvantage. Raising the cost of labor raises the incentive for employers to find ways to use less labor.

"In short, raising the minimum wage would make hiring more expensive. Most small-business owners are still trying to climb out of a difficult economy and these types of costs and regulations imposed by government affect them disproportionately and hinder their ability to invest, expand and create jobs."

In the State of the Union, Obama claimed the rate hike would boost annual salaries enough to take millions of Americans out of poverty.

“Tonight, let’s declare that in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full-time should have to live in poverty, and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour,” Obama said.