By Amanda Yeager
Baltimore Sun, July 1, 2015
The minimum wage in Maryland is on the rise. The second increase in the state's base hourly rate went into effect on Wednesday, six months after the first pay hike from $7.25 to $8 went into effect on Jan. 1.
Minimum wage workers will earn $8.25 an hour for the next year. The Maryland General Assembly voted to raise the minimum wage in increments when it passed the bill in 2014 – the rate will now rise on an annual basis for the next three years, to $8.75 an hour next July and $9.25 an hour in July 2017, before reaching $10.10 an hour in July 2018.
In Prince George's County and its neighbor, Montgomery County, the minimum wage has already surpassed the state boost. Local lawmakers there passed their own legislation last year to raise the minimum wage to $11.50 by 2017. Currently, the minimum wage for those two counties is $8.40. The rate will rise to $9.55 on Oct. 1 and to $10.75 in October 2016. ...
Holly Sklar, CEO of Business For a Fair Minimum Wage, a coalition of business owners who support the raise, predicted the state's stores and restaurants will benefit from increased consumer spending.
"Most businesses are very dependent on consumer spending, and consumer spending is very dependent on people's wages," she said. "Workers are also consumers, and so when the minimum wage goes up, it increases consumer spending, which in turn benefits businesses in the form of increased sales."
Brian England, the owner of Howard County-based British American Auto Care, is part of the Business For a Fair Minimum Wage coalition.
In a statement Tuesday, he said his business owed its success to "paying our employees a fair wage.
"Employers who pay inadequate wages now will see that a higher minimum wage will reduce high turnover and improve worker productivity and customer service," England said. "Money from minimum wage increases goes straight back into businesses and the community." ...
The 2014 law was the first time the minimum wage has been increased for the entire state since 2009. Though there have been efforts in recent years to increase wages nationwide, the federal minimum wage remains set at $7.25.
Copyright 2015 Baltimore Sun