BY JOHN SNYDER
OF PASCACK PRESS
TRENTON—Gov. Phil Murphy said he would sign into law this Monday a bipartisan measure phasing in a $15 minimum wage over five years.
The measure, months in negotiation, won full Assembly (52–25) and state Senate (23–16) approval on Jan. 31.
The bill (A-15) establishes an oversight panel and takes into account concerns of New Jersey businesses—and critics on the right, including Assemblyman Robert Auth (R-39), who said in the run-up to the vote that the move would “hurt the goose that lays the golden eggs,” referring to employers.
Under the bill, workers stuck at the current minimum wage, $8.85, will get their first pay bump in July.
“Today, we are taking a historic step to provide more than one million New Jersey workers a stronger foothold in the middle class,” Murphy said earlier in January.
“No one working a full-time join should ever live in poverty. Putting the minimum wage on a clear and responsible path to $15 an hour is good for workers, good for our businesses, and good for our economy,” he added.
Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin and members Cleopatra Tucker, Britnee Timberlake, Gabriela Mosquera, Angela McKnight, and Joseph Egan are the sponsors of the bill.
Coughlin (D-Middlesex), said New Jerseyans deserve a livable wage.
“I thank my Assembly colleagues for joining me in moving our state forward against inequality and boosting low wages for hard-working men and women. Raising the minimum wage makes New Jersey more affordable and improves the quality of life for over a million residents,” he said.
He added, “This is not only good for workers, but for businesses and our economy. I look forward to joining my colleagues on the Assembly floor to vote to raise the minimum wage and lift working families out of poverty.”
Englewood Health not waiting to act
Meanwhile, Englewood Health, the health system comprising Englewood Hospital and the Englewood Health Physician Network, announced on Feb. 1 it is increasing its minimum wage to $15/hour for eligible employees by the end of 2019.
“We are delighted to offer this significant increase to many of our valuable employees,” said Warren Geller, president and CEO of Englewood Health. “The decision to increase our minimum wage is a reflection of the important work that our frontline and support staff do for our patients and community every day and our commitment to being an employer of choice.”
Englewood Health is the largest employer in the city of Englewood and a major driver of the economic health of the city.
Gulf on poverty level is rising
A study by the United Way ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed) project found that through 2016, out of New Jersey’s more than three million households, 10.5 percent earn below the federal poverty level (334,182 households) and 28 (895,879 households) percent qualify as ALICE households.
The total number of New Jersey households that cannot afford basic needs increased 15 percent between 2010 and 2016.
“If a New Jersey resident making the current minimum wage works 40 hours every week of the year, their income would equal $18,408,” said Tucker (D-Essex). “This amount makes it tremendously difficult to support yourself and a family in New Jersey.”
At $15 an hour, pay for 40 hours a week works out to $600 a week and $31,200 a year.
“As the increases take effect, we must be sensitive to the impact it will have on working people who are below the safety net and could be at risk of losing benefits as their wages increase. We don’t want to see them harmed by lost benefits as they gain in wages,” Sweeney said.
The cost of basic household expenses—which United Way calls the Household Survival Budget—in New Jersey increased steadily to $74,748 for a family of four and $26,640 for a single adult. The cost of a family budget saw an increase of 28 percent from 2010 to 2016.
The bill gradually—and fairly, notes a Democratic Assembly caucus press release—raises the minimum wage to $15 per hour, providing further increases in the minimum wage beyond what is required by the state constitution.”
Assembly Democrats said the bill:
- Boosts the minimum wage from the current $8.85 for the majority of workers over a five-year period beginning in July.
- Boosts the minimum wage from the current $8.85 for the majority of workers over a five-year period beginning in July.
- Addresses New Jersey business concerns by establishing a moderate time table for a select group of workers over a period of seven years beginning January 2020. The select group includes workers of very small businesses (fewer than six employees), farm workers, and seasonal workers.
- Increases the state’s tipped minimum wage from $2.13 to $5.13 over a period of five years beginning this month. It has been two and half decades since the last tipped wage increase.
- Establishes the Task Force on Wages and State Benefits to annually report about the impact of the minimum wage on eligibility for state services and benefits and the impact working families.
- Establishes a Training Wage as of Jan. 1, 2020 of not less than 90 percent of the minimum wage for the first 120 hours, to be paid to an employee enrolled in a qualified training program.
- Does not interrupt minimum wage increases provided by the Constitution based on CPI-W increases will continue to be applied in all cases in any year in which the increase set by the bill are less than the CPI-W increase, including all years after 2024.
- Provides, as a constitutional provision, that if the federal minimum wage exceeds the state minimum wage it will be adopted as the new minimum for the state subject to CPI increases.
The bill followed months of negotiation between the Governor’s Office, Senate, and General Assembly to institute a $15/hour minimum wage, raising wages for more than a million workers and aimed at promoting broad-based economic growth.
Critics have their say
On Feb. 1, Assembly Republicans issued a statement calling the measure irresponsible.
Assemblyman Kevin Rooney (R-Bergen) lamented the fact that Democrats were raising the minimum wage “but hypocritically raising taxes that would increase the cost of living and the cost of doing business.”
He called out the speaker and Senate president for vowing not to raise taxes but doing so anyway, the release said.
“What we are trying to do here today is raise the minimum wage to effectuate change and allow people to have a better living in this state,” Rooney said.
He added, “It is incumbent upon all of us when we vote today to remember that in the future if we continue to raise taxes in this state we will do harm to the people we are trying to protect.”
Lobbyist group NFIB, the leading small business association in New Jersey, reacted to the news in a statement by Laurie Ehlbeck, its New Jersey director:
“The reality is many small businesses can’t afford to pay workers with no skills $15 per hour because they don’t have the money. There are only so many ways to cover those added labor costs and raising prices may not be one of them if customers won’t pay more,” she said.
“In businesses like food service and hospitality there is not a lot of profit, and that’s why this will result in reduced hours and disappearing entry-level jobs,” she added.