It’s a brand-new year, and small businesses across New Jersey will have to dig a bit deeper to make payroll. A new minimum wage was just enacted on Jan. 1 that raises our minimum wage for most jobs to $15.49 an hour.
It’s a 36 cents per hour increase, the result of a 2019 law that raised the minimum wage a bit each year until it reached $15 an hour and then tied it to the consumer price index every year after that. I objected at the time and still do. I believe it was too much, too fast, to be absorbed by the small business community.
When I look back at the kinds of jobs that historically were entry-level positions and look at my own teenage work experience, I don’t think what I did was worth this much. I worked hard. I learned quickly. But my first job as a janitor in a grocery store and subsequent jobs at fast food places like Wendy’s, McDonald’s, and Burger King were not exactly difficult.
If you were willing to pay attention and put in a little sweat, anyone right off the street could do it. These types of minimum wage jobs were normally reserved for teenagers who mostly needed to learn how to work, meaning how to show up every day, be on time, and be responsible. These jobs weren’t heavy lifting or brain surgery or requiring any particular skill…