Gov. Jack Markell signed into law Senate Bill 6, which will raise the minimum wage in Delaware to $8.25 per hour.
The legislation that cleared both the Senate and House on Thursday, calls for the minimum wage will go up 50 cents an hour to $7.75 on June 1, 2014. On June 1, 2015, it will go up another 50 cents to $8.25 per hour, $1 higher than the current federal minimum wage.
“Even as we have made progress in creating more jobs and getting our state’s economy on track, we have much more to do to give opportunity to those earning minimum wage,” said Markell. “I am proud to sign this bill and wanted to do so on the same day it passed to reflect the commitment that I and many members of the General Assembly share: we cannot wait any longer to get this done. Raising the minimum wage represents one of the fastest ways we can act to give a boost to many struggling working families.”
Delaware last increased its minimum wage in 2009, when the federal government increased the national minimum wage to its current level. Once the full increase is implemented, Delaware will be on par with New Jersey, where the current minimum wage is $8.25. The minimum wage in Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania is $7.25.
“Will this help people who are struggling to get by? Yes. Is it enough? No, but it’s a step in the right direction” said Sen. Robert Marshall, D-Wilmington West, the bill’s prime Senate sponsor. “We’ve needed to do this for a long time. This will help people, who really need our help, put groceries on the table.”
According to the Delaware Department of Labor, as many as 40,000 people, nearly 10% of Delaware’s workers, could be affected, either directly or indirectly, by this increase.
Critics of the bill say the increase will lead to fewer jobs being created and bumps up wages of higher paid workers. Opponents also noted that minimum wage increases are typically done during periods of prosperity.
Rep. Ruth Briggs King, R-Georgetown, said that many studies have shown that increasing the minimum wage disproportionately hurts inexperienced and less educated citizens. “It’s not that this will result in a job loss,” she said on the House floor “It’s that this will kill jobs from being created.”
