Sen. Robert I. Marshall, chair of the state legislature’s Low Wage Service Industry Task Force, will not pursue his Senate Bill 39 in this legislative session.
“Delaware’s minimum wage will increase by 50 cents on June 1, 2015, the second such increase in a 12-month span,” Marshall said today. “I firmly believe there’s more to do to bolster the foundation of Delaware’s economic pyramid, but my plan is to let the business community absorb this next increase and then revisit the issue in January 2016.”
“He wants to wait and see what the impact of the increase that’s going in on June 1 is, ” said Jesse Chadderden, communications director for the Senate Majority Caucus.
Marshall’s bill was met with unified opposition from four chambers of commerce, the Delaware Restaurant Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, the Delaware Food Industry Council, and the Mid-Atlantic Petroleum Dealers Association.
The minimum wage will rise to $8.25 this June, $1 higher than the federal minimum. It is the first increase since last June, when it rose 50 cents to $7.75. Senate Bill 39, which would have raised it to $10.25 in 2017 and tied it to inflation, is now dormant but could return next January.
James DeChene, director of government relations for the Delaware State Chamber of Commerce, welcomed the delay. He said his members are already scrambling to deal with the increased wages beginning June 1, and they are concerned about potential tax increases. “The concern that is out there is there is a big budget hole and how is the legislature going to fill that. Our concern is that they’ll be turning to the business community,” he said. “You have labor costs go up. You have potential taxes. That’s squeezing businesses from both ends.”
Carrie Leishman, president of the Delaware Restaurant Association, said the postponement will allow businesses to come up with true compensation costs, including the June 1 wage hike and Affordable Care Act.
“The business community is united and it’s coming on strong on this issue,” Leishman said. “It’s not about 50 cents. It’s about economic development and putting out an image that Delaware is pro-business.”
Tsedeye Gebreselassie, who has been monitoring Delaware’s legislation for the National Employment Law Project, called the June increase “pretty modest.”
“I think that’s why there was so much energy to get Delaware’s minimum wage up to other cities,” she said. “That’s what, $17,000 a year, and that’s well below what it takes to support oneself, let alone a family.”
“A couple months ago in Delaware you had a lot of workers testifying who were not teenagers or working for pocket change, but this is a career for them. More and more of the jobs being created in Delaware, just like across our country, are in low-wage industries,” Gebreselassie said. “These are the jobs that are fueling job growth. That’s why you have more and more adults taking those jobs.”
About 4.3 percent of all hourly workers and 2.6 percent of all wage and salary workers make the minimum wage, according to Pew Research.
According to Pew, 77 percent of workers at or below the federal minimum wage are white, nearly half are white women, slightly more than half are younger than 24, and 64 percent work part-time. In Delaware, approximately 10,000 to 12,000 workers, including tipped employees, make the minimum according to the state Office of Occupational and Labor Market Information.
The industry with the greatest number of minimum-wage or below workers is food preparation and service. Runners-up are sales, personal care and service occupations, office and administrative support occupations, and building and grounds cleaning and maintenance occupations. ♦
