Olha Yarynich, Contributing Reporter

At the start of this year, Connecticut’s minimum wage rose to $15.69 per hour, the state’s first-ever automatic wage increase resulting from the performance of economic indicators. While politicians and local labor leaders supported the change, a major New Haven business leader voiced opposition to the automatic increases. 

In 2019, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed into law a bill that incrementally increased the minimum wage in the state from $10.10 per hour at that time to $15.00 by 2023. The bill also instituted yearly raises based on the federal Employment Cost Index starting this January.

“The minimum wage for many years remained stagnant, making existing pay disparities even worse and preventing hardworking families from obtaining financial security,” Lamont said at the press announcement of the increase last year. “This is a fair, modest increase and the money earned will be spent right back into our own economy and support local businesses.”

Five years ago, the Connecticut General Assembly passed a minimum wage increase that pegged its growth to economic growth. The minimum wage in Connecticut increases annually on Jan. 1, tied to the Employment Cost Index, a measure of nationwide wage growth calculated by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

According to Connecticut Labor Commissioner Danté Bartolomeo, the increase will benefit between 160,000 and 200,000 minimum wage workers in the state.  

Gildemar Herrera, who represents New Haven’s municipal management employees as the president of AFSCME Local 3144, welcomed the increase in the minimum wage but said that she foresees little impact on working families struggling to afford rising food prices and rent hikes. 

The state minimum wage, among other key programs, directly impacts the many working families Herrera represents, especially single mothers with young children to support. Herrera said that she worries, in particular, about immigrant families struggling to pay the bills.

Those earning a $15.69 wage remain “working poor,” according to Herrera, who said that more should be done to support those workers. 

But Garrett Sheehan, the president of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, said he was opposed to the automatic minimum wage increases, and that he would support policies that promote flexibility and follow “economic realities.”  

“While we understand the increased cost of living and are fully supportive of paying employees livable wages, we sympathize with employers, specifically small businesses who are the most negatively impacted by the consequences of well-intended legislation,” Sheehan said. ”There should be a balanced approach to minimum wage policies — one that aims to support the prosperity of businesses and the well-being of our workforce.”  

Historically, the introduction of a minimum wage was tied to women’s labor politics in the late 19th century, as mostly women were working in the lowest-wage jobs, according to Yale labor historian Jennifer Klein. Bartolomeo said that nowadays, approximately 60 percent of minimum wage earners in Connecticut are women. 

Another policy challenge Klein identified is employers reclassifying their workers as non-employees to evade labor standards and minimum wage legislation.

What makes low wages unlivable in the U.S., Klein says, is the absence of state benefits, like healthcare, childcare and housing, which some other countries subsidize. 

“Nobody ever became not poor working for minimum wage,” Klein said, echoing Herrera. “What you really need to talk about is what’s going to change the balance of power for workers. And what are you going to do to make that possible? The technocratic fix is not enough.”

Klein said that she believes that minimum wage increases will not necessarily push businesses away from the state. When employers need more workers, “they hire more workers.”

When the minimum wage increase was passed, State Rep. Robyn Porter emphasized that the increased wages for residents would benefit local businesses and produce revenue for Connecticut. Announcing the most recent increase, Lamont seconded this sentiment. 

For tipped workers in Connecticut, the minimum wage is lower — at $6.38 for waiters and $8.23 for bartenders. This year, CGA might consider a bill that will eliminate this gap. 

The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour.