Aaron Johnson – General Assignment Reporter
Connecticut has become the first state in the country to raise the minimum wage pay from the previous federal wage of $7.25 an hour to $10.10 an hour. The increase passed through the Connecticut General Assembly before being approved in both the State Senate and House. The ripple of the decision to increase wages will have an effect on students as well as adults that make a minimum wage salary.
“Being someone who gets paid minimum wage I absolutely love the fact that it’s being raised,” said Southern Connecticut State University graduate student Diana Anderson. “But I only think it’s being raised because of how things are being priced overall.”
The increase to $10.10 an hour is the same increase that President Barack Obama has proposed for the federal minimum wage. According to a statement in the New York Times Gov. Dannel P. Malloy said that he is happy to see Connecticut at the forefront of another important national issue.
“I am proud that Connecticut is once again a leader on an issue of national importance,” Malloy
said. “Increasing the minimum wage is not just good for workers, it’s also good for business.”
Although some students from Connecticut are excited about the changes that will be coming to the state, others feel that it will not have an effect on them in the coming years.
“I think it’s great that they’re raising it,” said Jennifer Mathieu, a senior at the University of Hartford. “But by the time it’s in effect it most likely won’t apply to me.”
Mathieu – who will be graduating in May – said that she does not believe the increase will matter to her following graduate school and a job in her field.
“Three years from now, I’ll have my doctorate and if I find a job after graduating I won’t be working at minimum wage,” Mathieu said.
As of April 5, the $10.10 increase of minimum wage will be the highest wage by a single state in the country. However, there still are higher minimum wages by cities. In San Francisco, the minimum wage is $10.74 and in Washington, D.C. the plan is to raise its minimum wage to $11.50 by 2016.
“The more action we see on the state level like this, that’s always an ingredient for momentum at the federal level as well,” said Jack Temple, a policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project.
The question that remains to be answered however is whether or not will the increase in wages result in a raise in prices of items around the nation. Anderson said that though the increase is great that it necessarily will not result in being able to buy more things.
“We may think we’re getting a bigger [cut]. But honestly it’s not like were able to buy more things or things that we need,” Anderson said. “The minimum wage is a lot more than in New York City so we really can’t complain. It’s pretty much just the law of inflation.”
Under the current law, Connecticut’s minimum wage was already scheduled to climb by 30 cents to $9 an hour on Jan. 1, 2015. But with the passing of the new bill, it would instead increase to $9.15 before going up to $9.60 on Jan. 1, 2016, and to $10.10 on Jan. 1, 2017. According to Senate president,
Donald E. Williams Jr, between 70,000 and 90,000 people earn the minimum wage in Connecticut.
“I hope members of Congress, governors, state legislators and business leaders across our country will follow Connecticut’s lead,” President Obama said in a statement. “To help ensure that no American who works full time has to raise a family in poverty, and that every American who works hard has the chance to get ahead.”
