DELAWARE - All employees in the first state are on the road to making at least $15 an hour. Governor John Carney signed Senate Bill 15 into law Monday. The state's minimum wage will now increase over the next four years from the current $9.25 that was set in 2019 to $15 an hour by 2025.
"Our overall goal is to make sure that everyone has a job and an income and the ability to support themselves and their family," says Governor Carney.
Delaware's minimum wage will increase to $10.50 in 2022, $11.75 in 2023, $13.25 in 2024 and $15 in 2025.
"We go to this beach every year," says Jennifer Roosma from Texas. "We've been coming to this beach since we were little and people down here work very hard and coming out of the pandemic I see that."
The Ice Cream Store manager Adrianna Wright says employees there are already scooping up a gradually increasing minimum wage as the business prepares to eventually pay $15 an hour.
"You obviously need like money for living expenses and I feel like the minimum wage where it's at isn't going to cover that," Wright says.
Not all businesses are on board. Some say a $15 minimum wage would be difficult for them to afford and that it would cause inflation as they would have to raise their prices. Others say they wouldn't be able to keep as many employees on staff at a time.
Rehoboth Toy and Kite owner Bee Linzey says they already had to raise their pay rate to compete with other businesses.
"A lot of the employees I have here, this is their first job and to jump them in at $15 an hour right off the bat for a 15 or 16-year-old is kind of tough when we're teaching so much right off the bat, but the fact that it is gradual will help with that age group," Linzey says.
Even though the SB 15 was signed into law Monday, it does not start increasing the minimum wage until January when employees must start paying their employees at least $10.50 an hour before it goes up again the following year.