Delaware Restaurateur

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CAREER LADDER
TUMBLES WHEN THERE
IS NO FIRST STEP
Originally appeared in the Delaware State News,
February 6th 2016
Those who remember their first job
remember the lessons learned and the
skills gained.
Without that opportunity, we wouldn’t
have appreciated the next job, the
next boss or understood the education
needed for our future career path. Entry-
level jobs are crucial for life skills, and
that “first job” experience helped all
of us develop a stronger work ethic,
interpersonal skills, dependability
and reliability.
Some say these softer skills are lacking
when teens and individuals refuse to work
or don’t have that first-time opportunity
to work.
That is what entry-level and yes—
minimum wage jobs are all about!
Because the minimum wage applies to
only a small percentage of the population
doesn’t mean that its effects aren’t
significant. Most employees begin their
careers at minimum wage jobs before
quickly being promoted to earn more.
If these entry-level positions become
more difficult to obtain because of
higher wage floors, some people may
never have the opportunity to get the
skills and training necessary to earn
more than the minimum wage.
Proponents of ongoing minimum wage
hikes try and convince audiences that
minimum wage workers are all “single
mothers raising families” which is simply
not true. In fact, the average family
income of a beneficiary of a minimum
wage hike to $10.25 an hour is $50,662
— well above the poverty level.
Well over half — nearly 57 percent —
are either living at home with a parent
or have a working spouse. In reality,
less than 10 percent of minimum wage
workers are actually single parents
of children.
Sen. Bobby Marshall’s first attempt this
session to raise the minimum wage to
$15 an hour was met with harsh criticism
from those hiring at the first step of the
ladder. He could not rally support for
the $30,000 a year entry-level wage and
with good reason. The proposal was
pushed back hardest from not only the
restaurant community but also those
small businesses that hire low-skilled and
first time workers.
Even more startling to members of the
Senate was the intense opposition by
Delaware’s family-owned farms who
hire seasonal workers to help keep their
narrow-margin businesses running and
food on our tables.
Support crumbled and the $15 wage was
stricken to a seemingly more palatable
wage proposal of $10.25 an hour. This
new 25 percent increase over the current
$8.25 an hour training wage is still hard
for our family farms and local businesses
to absorb.
Increasing the minimum wage would
be unfair to the lowest skilled and the
underemployed. Small companies may not
go out of business but many who testified
in the Senate spoke of fewer workers hired,
more part-time positions and automation
of business. One only needs to look at
grocery stores and convenience stores
to notice the beginning of automation to
replace low-skilled workers.
The last thing Delaware can afford are
policies that hollow out the job market and
put our most vulnerable citizens at risk.
It’s been rough for Delaware in the last few
months. With violent crime in Wilmington
at its most severe—prompting a Newsweek
article to dub Wilmington as “Murder
Town USA” as well as the gut-punch from
the announcement of DuPont layoffs,
Delaware legislators should look for more
prudent strategies to increase education
and increase employment for Delawareans
so desperately in need of opportunity.
Carrie Leishman is President & CEO of the
Delaware Restaurant Association.
10 Quarter 1
legislat ion