After one of the most impactful votes the General Assembly has taken in years, legislation to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 is now before Gov. John Carney. In a 26-15 party line vote, the House of Representatives approved a bill to increase the wage floor from $9.25 in a series of steps. Senate Bill 15 would start by increasing the wage to $10.50 in 2022, followed by $11.75 in 2023 and $13.25 in 2024, before hitting $15 in 2025.
- I am perfectly fine with this increase. My life and time are just as valuable as anyone else’s. A hard day’s work is a hard day’s work, whether that be with your hands or mind or both. — Suzanne Heritage-Madanat
- This will cause all prices to rise on goods and services and small businesses to close. Thanks, you bunch of worthless politicians who supposedly represent the state. — Jon Arthur Judd
- A disaster. For those of you fussing about self-checkouts, get ready. It’s about to get worse — Doug Poore
- Democrats continue to pass bad law after bad law. Minimum-wage laws have roots in racism and have historically increased unemployment among low-skilled workers, mostly young Black males. Government should not be forcing businesses to increase their labor costs. — Rob Holley
- Why not just make it $25 an hour? You’ll get the same result, more inflation and jobs lost. McDonald’s is already testing automated drive-thrus. What about all those making $15 an hour and up? They are all going to have to get raises. — Bob Hice
- How did we completely lose sight of the fact that the world (and the state) doesn’t owe you a thing? You don’t “deserve” $15 or even $5 an hour — you earn it through hard work, determination and a sense of self-driven destiny. — Dave Fisher
- You aren’t getting paid more; the value of the dollar is just much lower. — Tom Small
- Prediction for Delaware: 1. Naive activists beg for government to increase minimum wage. 2. Naive legislators oblige. 3. Activists gets laid off by employer. 4. Blames capitalism, but it wasn’t capitalism. But their intentions were good, right? — Tomy Randolph
