I'm seeing a lot of backlash today to Hawaii's minimum wage increase. The bill raises the minimum wage to $10.10, but does so incrementally, and won't reach $10.10 fully until 2018. While that's a long time to wait, and really is too long in my opinion, I wanted to share a personal story about why I think at least some phasing in is necessary.
Friends of mine own a grocery store here in Northern New Jersey, and employ about 15 people, most of whom are part time. When the state's minimum wage was $7.25/hr, they paid $8-$11/hr to their employees, based on what sort of work they were doing and how long they'd been working there. There were a few high school student workers, but for the most part, the employees are adults. The business has been struggling pretty consistently, and the owners have really just been getting by.
When we raised the minimum wage to $8.25/hr this year, they were able to take the hit. Their pay now ranges from the minimum of $8.25 to $11.50. I guarantee you that if they had to raise their minimum wage to $10.10 immediately, or within a year, they would be out of business. No question about it. It would be too much, too fast for them to break even, and the losses would actually be quite hefty. For the record, I've asked they feel about increasing the minimum wage, and they say they support it as long they're given at least a year, perhaps a bit more, between every dollar increase.
So while I understand people's frustration about the increases passed being phased in so slowly, I think there has to be an understanding that this is to protect small businesses which are in bad shape, not the big corporations. Wal-Mart can take the hit without an issue; unfortunately, many local businesses cannot. I think it's important to keep that in mind before we condemn the bills.