Delaware's minimum wage will increase from $9.25 to $10.50 per hour starting in January.
In June, lawmakers passed a bill to raise the minimum wage by more than $1 each year until it reaches $15 an hour by 2025:
$10.50 by 2022
$11.75 by 2023
$13.25 by 2024
$15 by 2025
The $10.50 minimum wage law goes into effect on Jan. 1.
Twenty other states are also increasing their minimum wage next year.
Eight of them — Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Virginia — are gradually raising their minimum wage to $15 over the next four years, like Delaware. California and New York are taking similar steps, depending on employer size and location.
The Delaware Department of Labor estimates that 55,000 people in the state make $10 an hour or less.
Business owners have had mixed reactions in Delaware. Some support a $15 minimum wage, arguing that it increases consumer spending when the economy needs a post-pandemic boost, on top of improving worker morale and customer service.
But others, such as the Delaware Restaurant Association, which aggressively lobbied against a $15 minimum wage, argue that businesses won't be able to afford that amount after struggling through the pandemic.
Restaurants were among 4,000 local businesses that received more than $200 million in state-funded loans and grants to keep them afloat the pandemic, on top of millions more in federal aid via the Restaurant Revitalization Fund and Paycheck Protection Program.
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