Minimum wage set to increase Jan. 1, could impact businesses

DELMARVA- While many businesses are still trying to navigate their way through the pandemic, a new problem will be thrown their way soon starting next year.
The minimum wage increase.

“It’s going to force us to make hard decisions,” Michelle Wright, Co-owner of Wright’s Market, said.

Employers in both Maryland and Delaware can expect this change. Maryland’s minimum wage will soon be $12.50 an hour for businesses with 15 or more employees, and $12.20 for those with 14 or fewer workers.

“Right now, with the timing of everything its kind of difficult when the input costs on everything is going to be increasing it already increased and keeps increasing and we are already hearing about what food is going to cost,” Wright said.

Wright said while input costs are already making businesses raise product costs, minimum wage increases could have the same impact.

“So, for situations like us and many others I’m sure any increase is going to impact your bottom line and the way that we survive to continue to support ourselves and to make a profit is to increase our cost,” Wright said.

And, unfortunately those costs can get trickled down to the consumer.

“We don’t want to feel like we have to charge more than what we need to make a profit and to you know have a successful business, but we have to survive and I think we are all in survival mode now,” Wright said.

Meanwhile in Delaware, minimum wage will increase to $10.50 and hour. Business owner and Representative Bryan Shupe said he doesn’t agree with the change.

“I voted against the minimum wage in Delaware mainly because I don’t think we have really a grasp on whether the minimum wage would be positive or negative for Delaware small businesses,” Representative Shupe said.

And, with a push to raise minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2025 for both states, Representative Shupe said he thinks as time goes on the increase could become an even bigger challenge.

” I think once the economy corrects itself and we go back to a normal economy this minimum wage is really going to start hurting when it again starts artificially inflating what that dollar amount is in our local economy,” Representative Shupe said.